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LIBRARY    OF    THE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,     N.    J. 
PRESENTED  BY 

Mrs.   Donald   Sinclair 

Division. ...C^ZTZ...       ^^ 
Section...A.v£3..J^C^ 


Thirty  Studies 
ABOUT  JESUS 


Thirty  Studies 

ABOUT  JESUS 


Edward  Increase  Bosworth 


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124  East  28th   Street,  New  York 
1917 


Copyright,  1917,  by 

The  International  Committee  of 

Young    Men's   Christian   Associations' 


The  Bible  Text  used  in  this  volume  is  taken  from  the  American 
Standard  Edition  of  the  Revised  Bible,. copyright,  1901,  by  Thomas 
Nelson  &  Sons,  and  is  used  by  permission. 


FOREWORD 

Jesus  is  probably  the  most  widely  known  character 
of  history.  Certainly  he  is  the  one  who  has  most  deeply 
stirred  the  emotions  of  humanity.  For  nearly  nineteen 
hundred  years  men  have  been  praying  to  him  and  curs- 
ing by  him.  Men  still  die  for  love  of  him  and  sometimes 
kill  his  disciples  for  hate  of  his  name.  And  yet  neither 
his  enemies  nor  those  of  us  to  whom  he  is  Friend,  and 
More-Than-Friend,  know  enough  about  him.  These 
Studies  from  the  Christian  Gospels  are  intended  to  bring 
out  certain  main  points  in  his  life  and  teaching  that 
will  help  those  who  use  them  to  know  more  about  him 
and  to  have  more  to  do  with  him.  If  any  who  are 
indifferent  to  him  use  them  it  is  hoped  that  they  will 
find  him  here  a  challenge,  at  first  perhaps  to  curiosity, 
but  finally  to  conscience  and  conduct. 

New  beginnings  in  human  progress  during  the  last 
nineteen  hundred  years  have  been  marked  by  new  inter- 
est in  him.  At  each  step  forward  men  have  found  in 
him  new  light  on  the  meaning  of  life,  on  the  meaning 
of  the  world  that  is  seen  and  the  world  that  is  unseen. 
Now  once  more  a  New  Age  seems  coming  to  birth. 
While  men  of  many  nationalities  from  the  States  and 
Provinces  of  North  America  are  coming  together  to 
join  with  men  across  both  oceans  in  warring  for  a 
better  world  it  is  fit  that  we  too  should  think  together 
about  Jesus,  as  our  fathers  did  before  us.     It  is  from 


vi  FOREWORD 

him  that  men  of  all  nations  will  learn  to  call  God  their 
Father  and  to  plan  together  even  in  the  red  light  of  war 
for  brotherhood,  international,  world-wide,  and  ever- 
lasting. 

Oberlin,  Ohio. 
June  6,  1917. 


COxXTENTS 

Foreword    v 

Part  I:  Jesus'  Preparation  for  Public 
Service 

I.     Thi-:  Discipline  of  Village  Life 3 

II.     The  Influence  of  John,  the  Wilder- 
ness   Prophet    8 

III.  The  Discipline  of  Temptation 14 

Part  II:  Jesus  the  People's  Prophet, 
His  Vision  of  the  Life  of  the  New 
Age  and  the  Way  to  Prepare  for  It 

IV.  Disease  and  Demons  Give  Way 23 

V.    Jfsus'  Outline  of  the  Civilization  of 

the  New  Age 28 

VI.     No  Contempt  for  Man  Nor  Lust  for 

Woman    34 

VII.     Plain  Speech  and  No  Revenge 39 

VIll.     Care  of  the  Neighbor  in  Need 44 

IX.     Count  on  God  Without  Nervous  Worry  49 

X.     Possessing  Things  Not  Preparation.  .  54 

XI.     No  Love  of  Personal  Parade 59 

XII.     Prayer  for  Others,  not  Condemnation 

OF  Them    64 

Part  III:  Jesus,  the  People's  Prophet, 
Arouses  the  Hostility  of  the  Reli- 
gious Authorities  by  His  Teaching 
Regarding  the  Life  of  the  New  Age 
and  the  Way  to  Prepare  for  it 

XIII.     The     Scribes     Suspicious     of     Jesus' 

Teaching     "/Z 

vii 


vili  CONTENTS 

XIV.    Jesus'  Approach  to  Irreligious  People  78 
XV.    Jesus'  Approach  to  Irreligious  People  83 
XVI.     Offended  by  Jesus'  Use  of  the  Sab- 
bath      89 

XVII.     Official  Verdict  of  Scribes  on  Jesus.  95 
XVIII.'  Final     Clash     Over     Treatment     of 

Scriptures    loi 

Part  IV:  Jesus'  Strategic  Retreat  to 
Prepare  the  Twelve  for  the  Great 
Event  in  Jerusalem 

XIX.     The  Early  Training  of  the  Twelve..     109 
XX.     The  Messianic  Secret  and  an  Incredi- 
ble  Announcement    114 

XXI.    Jesus    Prepares    Disciples    to    Share 

Suffering 120 

Part  V:  Jesus  Comes  Out  from  His 
Seclusion  with  His  Disciples,  Re- 
sumes Public  Teaching,  and  Boldly 
Meets  His  Enemies  in  the  Capital 
City,  but  Is  Put  to  Death  by  Them 
as  a  Blaspheming  False  Christ 

XXII.     Jesus  Greeted  as  Messiah 129 

XXIII.  Jesus  Attacks  Abuses  in  Temple  Ad- 

ministration         135 

XXIV.  The  Traitor  Among  the  Twelve 141 

XXV.    Jesus  Placed  Under  Arrest  and  Goes 

TO  Trial 147 

XXVI.    Jesus  Condemned  to  Death 153 

XXVII.    Jesus  Executed  and  Buried 160 

XXVIII.     After   Death    Jesus    Appears   to    His 

Disciples    166 

XXIX.     The   Victorious    Campaign   of   Testi- 
mony     172 

XXX.     What  Will  You  Do  About  Jesus?...  177 


PART   I:   JESUS'   PREPARATION   FOR   PUBLIC 

SERVICE 


STUDY    I 

THE  DISCIPLINE  OF  VILLAGE  LIFE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  2:  40-52  4-   Luke  6:47-49 

2.  Matthew  10:  34-36;  5-   Luke  14:28-30 

11:  16-19  6.   Alatthew  20:  1-15 

3.  Matthew  13:54-58  7-   Luke  4:16-30 

^Passage  FOR  Study: 

Luke  2:  I.  Now  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days, 
there  went  out  a  decree  from  Caesar  Augustus,  that 
all  the  world  should  be  enrolled.  2.  This  was  the 
first  enrolment  made  when  Quirinius  v/as  governor 
of  Syria.  3.  And  all  went  to  enrol  themselves,  every 
one  to  his  own  city.  4.  And  Joseph  also  v/ent  up 
from  Galilee,  out  of  the  city  of  Nazareth,  into  Jud^a, 
to  the  city  of  David,  which  is  called  Bethlehem,  be- 
cause he  was  of  the  house  and  family  of  David;  5.  to 
enrol  himself  with  Mary,  who  was  betrothed  to  him, 
being  great  with  child.  6.  And  it  came  to  pass,  while 
they  were  there,  the  days  were  fulfilled  that  she 
should  be  delivered.  7.  And  she  brought  forth  her 
firstborn  son;  and  she  wrapped  him  in  swaddling 
clothes,  and  laid  him  in  a  manger,  because  there  was 
no  room  for  them  in  the  inn.   22.  And  when  the  days 

'In  each  Study  carefully  read  first  the  Passage  for  Study,  then 
the  comment,  and  then  again  the  Passage  for  Study.  Afterward 
consider  the  Questions. 


4  ABOUT  JESUS 

of  their  purification  according  to  the  law  of  Moses 
were  fulfilled,  they  brought  him  up  to  Jerusalem, 
to  present  him  to  the  Lord.  39.  And  when  they 
had  accomplished  all  things  that  were  according  to 
the  law  of  the  Lord,  they  returned  into  Galilee,  to 
their  own  city  Nazareth.  40.  And  the  child  grew, 
and  waxed  strong,  filled  with  wisdom:  and  the  grace 
of  God  was  upon  him.  52.  And  Jesus  advanced  in 
wisdom  and  stature,  and  in  favor  with  God  and 
men. 

Mark  6:  i.  And  he  went  out  from  thence;  and  he 
Cometh  into  his  own  country;  and  his  disciples  fol- 
low him,  2.  And  v/hen  the  sabbath  was  come,  he 
began  to  teach  in  the  synagogue:  and  many  hearing 
him  were  astonished,  saying,  Whence  hath  this  man 
these  things?  and.  What  is  the  wisdom  that  is  given 
unto  this  man,  and  what  mean  such  mighty  works 
wrought  by  his  hands?  3.  Is  not  this  the  carpenter, 
the  son  of  Mary,  and  brother  of  James,  and  Joses, 
and  Judas,  and  Simon?  and  are  not  his  sisters  here 
with  us?    And  they  were  offended  in  him. 

I.  At  least  the  first  ten-elevenths  of  Jesus'  life  were 
quietly  spent  as  a  useful  member  of  a  Syrian  village 
community.  There  he  had  a  good  home,  in  which  were 
four  younger  brothers  and  at  least  two  younger  sisters. 
The  father,  who  was  a  carpenter  (see  third  supplement- 
ary reading),  does  not  appear  in  the  description  of  the 
family  found  in  the  quotation  from  Mark's  Gospel. 
Therefore  he  had  probably  died  in  Jesus'  early  young 
manhood. 

As  a  child,  Jesus  played  with  the  other  children  in  the 
village  market.  He  liked  in  later  years  to  remember 
this  comparatively  care-free  period  when  they  used 
to  play  wedding  and  funeral,  those  dramatic  occasions 


DISCIPLINE  OF  VILLAGE  LIFE  5 

in  Eastern  life  which  would  powerfully  excite  the 
imitative  imagination  of  children  (see  second  supple- 
mentary reading). 

As  a  boy  ranging  over  the  hills  that  shut  Nazareth 
in  on  every  side  he  noted  the  beauty  of  the  field  flowers, 
saw  the  dead  sparrow  lying  in  the  path,  and  associated 
both  with  the  power  and  tenderness  of  God  the  Heav- 
enly Father  who  was  becoming  more  and  more  a  reality 
to  him  (Matt.  6:28;  10:29).  The  village  schoolmaster 
perhaps  took  the  boys  occasionally  to  the  hill  tops,  where 
he  could  point  out  to  them  in  the  distance  many  famous 
historical  sites  and  the  great  Roman  roads  full  of  travel 
and  traffic. 

In  the  village  Jesus  learned  his  trade,  made  house  fur- 
niture and  farm  tools  and  built  houses,  perhaps  making 
a  specialty  of  foundations  (see  fourth  supplementary 
reading).  In  some  of  the  most  tense  moments  of  his 
later  life  he  naturally  used  the  language  of  his  trade: 
he  saw  in  Peter  a  rock-man  who  would  do  for  one  of 
the  foundation  stones  on  which  to  "build"  his  new 
Israel  (Matt.  16:  18).  Some  of  his  words  later  might 
indicate  that  he  had  at  one  time  been  an  employer  of 
labor  (see  sixth  supplementary  reading),  perhaps  a  kind 
of  contractor.  If  so,  he  knew  the  difficulty  of  getting 
on  not  only  with  inconsiderate  employers  but  with  shirk- 
ing workmen.  In  his  shop  he  dealt  with  men  who  had 
inherited  from  many  ancestors  the  oriental  keenness  for 
a  sharp  bargain,  with  men  who  were  always  criticising 
the  work  done  for  them,  and  also  with  poor  calculators 
who  had  to  throw  up  their  contracts  when  their  build- 
ings were  only  half  finished  (see  fifth  supplementary 
reading). 


6  ABOUT  JESUS 

The  support  of  a  widowed  mother  aiid  some  at  least 
of  the  younger  brothers  and  sisters  came  for  a  while 
largel}''  upon  him.  The  anxious  questions,  "What  shall 
we  eat  and  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed?"  -were 
often  raised  in  the  family.  They  understood  the  science 
of  patching  old  clothes  (Mark  2:21)  !  He  knew  what 
family  jars  were  like,  perhaps  sometimes  occasioned 
by  his  own  high  and  unusual  ideas  about  the  way  things 
ought  to  be  done.  This  would  be  particularly  likely  to 
happen  after  the  brothers  married  and  brought  their 
wives  home  to  the  mother-in-law.  "I  came  to  set  a  man 
at  variance  against  his  father,  and  the  daughter  against 
the  mother,  and  the  daughter-in-law  against  her  mother- 
in-law." 

He  went  freely  to  all  the  social  meetings  and  parties 
of  the  village  (see  second  supplementary  reading).  At 
their  work  during  the  day  or  in  the  market-place  in  the 
evening  he  and  the  other  men  of  the  village  discussed 
the  politics  and  morals  of  the  nation,  the  unwelcome 
regiments  of  Roman  soldiers  that  some  of  the  farmers 
had  seen  that  day  marching  along  the  Roman  roads  in 
sight  from  the  hill  tops  about  Nazareth. 

2.  These  elemental  relationships  of  village  life  afforded 
opportunity  for  the  development  of  the  character  which 
Jesus  was  seen  to  possess  later  when  he  became  a  person 
of  national  importance.  The  great  essential  conditions 
of  character  m^aking  were  all  present  in  the  village  sit- 
uation :  work,  play,  neighbors,  and  God.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  nature  of  the  personality  with  which 
Jesus  was  born,  it  was  not  such  as  to  do  away  with  the 
necessity  of  developing  character.  A  New  Testament 
writer  speaks  of  him  as  one  who  "though  he  was  a  Son 


DISCIPLINE  OF  VILLAGE  LIFE  7 

yet  learned  obedience  by  the  things  which  he  suffered" 
(Hebrews  5:8). 

3.  No  situation  into  which  men  come  lasts  long  with- 
out having  in  some  degree  at  least  all  the  four  conditions 
of  character  making  mentioned  above:  work,  recreation, 
neighbors,  and  God.  Human  life  is  a  situation  devised 
by  God  in  which  men  may  make  character. 

Questions  : 

Are  there  other  conditions  essential  to  a  favorable 
opportunity   for  character? 

How  do  those  mentioned  contribute  to  character? 
What  do  we  mean  by  "character"  anyway? 

What  has  your  home  contributed  to  your  life? 

What  can  you  do  now  to  make  the  most  of  your  home, 
and  home  town  relationships? 

What  are  the  best  forms  of  recreation  now  avail- 
able? 

It  behooved  him  in  all  things  to  be  made  like 
unto  his  brothers  that  he  might  become  a  merciful 
and  faithful  high  priest  in  things  pertaining  to 
God. — The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

"Born  within  a  lowly  stable,  where  the  cattle  round  Me 

stood, 
Trained   a   carpenter   in   Nazareth,    I    have   toiled,   and 

found    it   good. 

Where  the  many  toil  together,  there  am  I  among  My 

own  ; 
Where  the  tired  workman  sleepeth,  there  am  I  with  him 

alone." 

— Henry  van  Dyke,  "The  Toiling  of  Felix." 


STUDY    II 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  JOHN,  THE 
WILDERNESS  PROPHET 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  I  :  5-23  4.  John  i  :  6-9,  15-37 

2.  Luke  I  :  57-80  5.  John  3  :  22—4 :  3 

3.  Luke  3:1-6  6.  Luke   7 :    18-28 

7.  Mark  6:   14-29 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Mark   i:   2.   Even   as  it   is   written   in   Isaiah   the 
prophet, 

Behold,   I  send  my  messenger  before  thy  face, 

Who  shall  prepare  thy  way; 

3.  The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness. 

Make  ye  ready  the  way  of  the  Lord, 

Make  his  paths  straight; 

4.  John  came,  who  baptized  in  the  wilderness  and 
preached  the  baptism  of  repentance  unto  remission 
of  sins.  5.  And  there  went  out  unto  him  all  the 
country  of  Judaea,  and  all  they  of  Jerusalem;  and 
they  were  baptized  of  him  in  the  river  Jordan,  con- 
fessing their  sins.  6.  And  John  was  clothed  with 
camel's  hair,  and  had  a  leathern  girdle  about  his 
loins,  and  did  eat  locusts  and  wild  honey.  7.  And 
he    preached,    saying,    There    cometh    after    me    he 

8 


THE  WILDERNESS  PROPHET  g 

that  is  mightier  than  I,  the  latchet  of  whose  shoes 
I  am  not  worthy  to  stoop  down  and  unloose.  8.  I 
baptized  you  with  water;  but  he  shall  baptize  you 
with  the  Holy  Spirit.  9.  And  it  came  to  pass 
in  those  days,  that  Jesus  came  from  Nazareth 
of  Galilee,  and  was  baptized  of  John  in  the 
Jordan. 

Luke  3:  7.  He  said  therefore  to  the  multitudes 
that  went  out  to  be  baptized  of  him.  Ye  offspring 
of  vipers,  who  warned  you  to  flee  from,  the  wrath  to 
come?  8.  Bring  forth  therefore  fruits  worthy  of 
repentance,  and  begin  not  to  say  within  yourselves. 
We  have  Abraham  to  our  father:  for  I  say  unto 
you,  that  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up 
children  unto  Abraham.  9.  And  even  now  is  the  axe 
also  laid  unto  the  root  of  the  trees:  every  tree 
therefore  that  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  is  hewn 
down,  and  cast  into  the  fire.  10.  And  the  multitudes 
asked  him,  saying.  What  then  must  we  do?  11.  And 
he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  He  that  hath  two 
coats,  let  him  impart  to  him  that  hath  none;  and 
he  that  hath  food,  let  him  do  likewise.  12.  And 
there  came  also  publicans  to  be  baptized,  and  they 
said  unto  him,  Master,  what  must  we  do?  13.  And 
he  said  unto  them,  Extort  no  more  than  that  which 
is  appointed  you.  14.  And  soldiers  also  asked  him, 
saying,  And  we,  v/hat  must  we  do?  And  he  said 
unto  them.  Do  violence  to  no  man,  neither  exact 
anything  wrongfully;  and  be  content  with  your 
wages. 

I.  The  work  of  this  prophet  of  the  wilderness,  rough 
in  dress  and  speech,  was  not  so  much  to  influence 
Jesus  as  it  was  to  prepare  the  nation  for  Jesus.  Yet 
Jesus  seems  to  have  felt  his  influence  to  a  certain 
extent.      Jesus    said    later    that    no    greater    man    than 


10  ABOUT  JESUS 

John  had  ever  lived,  but  he  said  in  addition  that  John 
could  not  stand  comparison  with  the  humblest  man  in 
a  New  Order,  for  the  coming  of  which  Jesus  had  begun 
to  feel  a  high  and  unique  sense  of  responsibility  (see 
sixth  supplementary  reading). 

It  was  John's  stirring  harangues  to  the  crowds  that 
flocked  about  him  in  the  wilderness  that  drew  Jesus 
from  Nazareth.  The  Nazareth  men  in  the  market- 
place or  around  the  synagogue  in  the  evening  talked 
much  about  John's  threatening  summons  to  the  nation 
to  repent  and  wash  themselves  in  baptismal  waters, 
in  preparation  for  the  judgment  day  so  near  at  hand 
and  for  the  glad  New  Age  that  would  follow.  Jesus 
approved  this  summons  and  finally  went  to  the  wilder- 
ness himself.  There  he,  like  thousands  of  others,  went 
down  into  the  baptismal  waters  of  the  river  with  de- 
vout desire  to  take  such  part  as  God  might  give  him 
in  preparing  for  the  New  Age.  This  gave  rise  to  a 
tradition  later  that  Jesus  became  John's  disciple,  but 
the  Gospels  protest  strongly  against  this  idea  (see 
fourth  and  fifth  supplementary  readings).  They  also 
emphasize  the  fact  that  a  voice  from  heaven  at  the 
time  of  the  baptism  declared  Jesus'  life  in  the  Nazareth 
years  to  have  been  wholly  pleasing  to  God  :  "Thou  art 
my  beloved  Son ;  in  thee  I  am  well  pleased," 

2.  John  had  at  once  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
nation,  both  because  of  his  personality  and  the  excit- 
ing character  of  his  message.  In  his  rough  dress  and 
stern  demand  for  reform  he  resembled  the  old  hero 
prophet  Elijah,  who  was  a  favorite  character  in  Jewish 
history  and  who  was  expected  to  re-appear  shortly 
before  the  judgment  day.     It  was  in   the  very  region 


THE  WILDERNESS  PROPHET  ii 

where  John  now  was  that  he  had  suddenly  disappeared 
centuries  before ! 

John's  message  from  God  was  that  the  "Kingdom 
of  God"  was  at  hand.  The  Jews,  who  for  much  of 
their  history  had  been  subject  to  different  great  world 
empires,  had  come  to  expect  God  himself  finally  to  set 
up  a  World  Empire,  in  which  the  Jewish  nation,  the 
keepers  of  God's  holy  law  given  to  Moses,  would  en- 
force that  law  among  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth.  In 
preparation  for  this  splendid  era  the  great  "Rabbis," 
or  "Scribes,"  were  trying  to  enforce  among  the  Jews 
themselves  a  better  and  more  general  obedience  to  the 
law  than  the  nation  had  ever  yielded.  If  this  could 
only  be  secured,  most  of  them  felt  that  God  would 
grant  them  a  holy  king,  the  "Messiah"  or  "Christ" 
(that  is  the  "Anointed,"  for  kings  were  inducted  into 
office  by  an  "anointing"),  who  would  in  a  holy  judg- 
ment remove  from  the  earth  all  the  disobedient,  and 
proceed  to  reign  over  a  thoroughly  righteous  Jewish 
world. 

3.  The  most  interesting  thing  about  John  was  his 
idea  of  what  constituted  the  genuine  religion  which 
men  must  have  if  they  were  to  be  ready  for  this  great 
crisis  or  change  in  which  they  would  face  God.  John's 
idea  was  so  different  from  that  held  by  the  religious 
leaders  of  the  day  that  they  had  little  to  do  with  his 
movement.  Nevertheless,  it  appealed  powerfully  to  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  nation,  especially  to  those  who  had 
not  been  considered  as  at  all  religious.  Jesus  said  of 
it  long  afterward,  speaking  to  the  religious  leaders  in 
the  nation  :  "John  came  unto  you  in  the  way  of  right- 
eousness,  and  ye  believed  him  not;   but   the  publicans 


12  ABOUT  JESUS 

and  the  harlots  believed  him  :  and  ye,  when  ye  saw  it, 
did  not  even  repent  yourselves  afterward." 

To  John  religion  meant  a  kindness  of  heart  and 
honesty  that  could  be  counted  on  at  any  time.  It  meant 
sharing  food  and  clothing  with  another  man  if  neces- 
sary (v.  lo).  It  meant  a  square  deal  in  business  (v.  12). 
It  meant  honor  among  soldiers  in  their  treatment  of 
civilians  and  in  their  lo3^alty  to  discipline  (vs.  13-14). 
The  things  that  had  impressed  this  man  from  the 
wilderness  when  he  occasionally  visited  the  city  were 
the  self-satisfied  pride  and  the  utter  lack  of  real  friend- 
liness to  be  found  even  among  those  who  thought 
themselves  religious.  They  were  a  "generation  of 
vipers"  (v.  7),  a  race  of  poisonous  snakes  stinging  each 
other  to  death  in  hate.  They  were  so  proud  of  their 
race  and  social  standing  (v.  8)  that  it  seemed  to  them 
an  insult  to  be  called  upon  to  get  ready  for  the  search- 
ing questions  of  God's  judgment  day.  And  yet  judgment 
was  near.  It  was  as  if  the  farmer,  going  through  his 
orchard  to  take  out  useless  trees,  had  laid  his  ax  at 
the  root  of  a  tree  for  a  moment  while  he  inspected  its 
branches  to  see  whether  he  should  spare  it  or  at  once 
cut  it  down. 

Questions  : 

What  are  some  of  the  critical  situations  in  life  that 
really  judge  a  man,  that  really  show  him  up  for  just 
what  he  is? 

To  what  extent  and  how  can  a  man  get  at  the  facts 
about  himself  beforehand?  How  can  he  really  find  out 
before  the  crisis  comes  what  kind  of  man  he  is? 

What   is   it  to  "repent"  ?     Does  it  ever  involve  any 


THE  WILDERNESS  PROPHET  13 

effort  to  make  restitution  for  wrong  done  to  another? 
Does  it  involve  public  confession  of  the  details  of  a 
bad  past  life? 

God  never  intends  a  crisis  to  break  a  man  down. 
He  means  it  to  introduce  a  man  into  something  better 
than  he  has  ever  known  before.  The  Unseen-  Power 
that  is  all  about  us  is  for  us  and  not  against  us. 


STUDY    III 

THE  DISCIPLINE  OF  TEMPTATION 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  4:    1-13  4.  I  Corinthians  10:  1-13 

2.  Mark  i:  9-13  5.  Hebrews  2:  10-18 

3.  Mark  8  :  27-33  6.  Hebrews  4 :  12-16 

7.  Hebrews   12 :   i-ii 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Matt.  3:  16.  And  Jesus,  when  he  was  baptized, 
went  up  straightway  from  the  water:  and  lo,  the 
heavens  were  opened  unto  him,  and  he  saw  the 
Spirit  of  God  descending  as  a  dove,  and  coming 
upon  him;  17.  and  lo,  a  voice  out  of  the  heavens, 
saying.  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am 
well  pleased. 

4:  I.  Then  was  Jesus  led  up  of  the  Spirit  into  the 
wilderness  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil.  2.  And  when 
he  had  fasted  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  he  after- 
ward hungered.  3.  And  the  tempter  came  and  said 
unto  him,  If  thou  art  the  Son  of  God,  command  that 
these  stones  become  bread.  4.  But  he  answered  and 
said.  It  is  written,  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone, 
but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth 
of  God.  5.  Then  the  devil  taketh  him  into  the  holy 
city;  and  he  set  him  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  tem.ple, 
6.  and  saith  unto  him.  If  thou  art  the  Son  of  God, 
cast  thyself  down:  for  it  is  written, 

14 


DISCIPLINE  OF  TEMPTATION  15 

He  shall  give  his  angels  charge  concerning  thee: 
and, 

On  their  hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up, 
Lest  haply  thou  dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone. 
7.  Jesus  said  unto  him.  Again  it  is  written,  Thou 
shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God.  8.  Again,  the 
devil  taketh  him  unto  an  exceeding  high  mountain, 
and  sheweth  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world, 
and  the  glory  of  them;  9.  and  he  said  unto  him.  All 
these  things  will  I  give  thee,  if  thou  wilt  fall  down 
and  worship  me.  10.  Then  saith  Jesus  unto  him, 
Get  thee  hence,  Satan:  for  it  is  written,  Thou  shalt 
worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou 
serve.  11.  Then  the  devil  leaveth  him;  and  behold, 
angels  came  and  m.inistered  unto  him. 

I.  During  the  years  in  Nazareth  there  had  grown 
up  in  the  soul  of  Jesus  a  profound  experience  of  the 
presence  of  God,  the  Heavenly  Father.  He  had  neces- 
sarily thought  much  about  the  New  Age  which  so 
many  of  his  countrymen  expected,  especially  since  the 
preaching  of  John  in  the  wilderness  had  called  the 
attention  of  the  nation  to  it. 

In  the  profound  spiritual  experience  of  Jesus  at  the 
baptism  he  saw  a  vision  in  which  his  Heavenly  Father 
revealed  to  him  the  fact  that  the  responsibility  of 
messianic  leadership  in  the  New  Age  was  to  rest  upon 
him. 

Messiahship  was  not  an  "office,"  but  a  heavy  personal 
responsibility.  Woodrow  Wilson,  in  his  professional 
years,  studying  the  history  and  politics  of  the  United 
States  and  other  countries,  may  have  thought  of  the 
presidency  as  a  high  "office,"  but  when  he  became 
president  he  realized  that  it  was  a  heavy  personal  re- 


i6  ABOUT  JESUS 

sponsibility  full  of  difficult  problems  for  which  he  must 
find  a  solution. 

2.  The  heavy  personal  responsibility  which  rested 
upon  Jesus  as  a  Messiah  was  the  necessity  of  discover- 
ing the  proper  ideal  of  life  to  set  before  himself  in 
his  effort  to  do  his  work  for  the  nation  and  the  world, 
and  to  decide  upon  a  program  for  the  realization  of 
this  ideal.  The  way  in  which  he  met  this  responsibility 
would  show  what  kind  of  person  he  was.  It  would  be 
his  testing,  or  "temptation." 

This  sense  of  heavy  responsibility  drove  him  to  the 
wilderness  for  weeks  of  prayer,  fasting,  and  study  of 
those  parts  of  the  scripture  in  which  Moses,  the  leader 
of  the  nation  out  of  Egyptian  slavery  into  liberty,  is 
represented  to  have  found  God's  ideal  for  the  life  of 
the  new  nation  during  forty  days  of  fasting  (Deuter- 
onomy 9:  8-1 1.  Note  that  Jesus  quotes  Deuteronomy 
8:  3;  6:  16;  6:  13). 

3.  Jesus'  report  of  his  experience  during  this  period 
is  in  the  form  of  parable  and  vision,  a  form  congenial 
to  the  oriental  mind  and  found  elsewhere  in  the  teach- 
ing of  Jesus. 

From  the  parable  of  Stones  and  Bread  it  is  evident 
that  two  ideals  appeared  to  Jesus  as  attractive  possi- 
bilities. The  first  was  to  relieve  immediately  the  hunger 
and  other  physical  needs  which  often  cause  great  suf- 
fering and  to  be  content  with  doing  this,  leaving  God 
Himself  to  look  out  for  any  other  interests.  Jesus 
was  keenly  alive  to  the  importance  of  doing  this,  not 
only  because  of  his  own  hunger  at  the  time,  but  be- 
cause of  all  the  engrossing  struggle  of  his  family  to 
get  food  and  clothing  and  ward  off  sickness  during  the 


DISCIPLINE  OF  TEMPTATION  17 

Nazareth  years.  The  other  possible  ideal  was  to  at- 
tempt primarily  to  bring  men  into  fellowship  with 
God,  to  get  them  to  listen  to,  and  Hve  by,  the  great 
messages  that  pass  from  the  soul  of  God  to  the  souls 
of  men.  He  decided  if  human  society  would  rightly 
relate  itself  to  God,  men's  relations  to  each  other  would 
necessarily  be  such  as  to  secure  for  all  a  fair  chance 
at  physical  comforts.  So  he  became  later  primarily 
the  world's  great  teacher  of  religion,  but  of  a  religion 
which  instead  of  being  ascetic  made  large  recognition 
of  physical  well-being. 

In  the  parable  of  the  Leap  from  the  Temple,  Jesus 
hinted  at  the  possible  ways  of  declaring  to  the  nation 
his  sense  of  messianic  leadership.  It  seemed  appropri- 
ate to  meet  public  expectation  in  this  matter.  The 
prophets  had  said  that  "the  Lord  would  appear  sud- 
denly in  his  temple."  If  God  should  introduce  him  to 
the  nation  at  the  temple  in  some  miraculous  way,  surely 
it  would  be  easy  to  lead  the  nation  to  God.  The  ninety- 
first  Psalm  which  spoke  about  God's  messianic  "salva- 
tion" (v.  16)  contained  a  sentence  (vs.  12-13)  which 
seemed  to  warrant  this.  Longer  reflection  convinced 
him  that  this  was  an  evil  suggestion.  He  must  not  take 
a  bold  initiative,  demanding  God's  support  and  so  put- 
ting God  to  the  test.  He  must  rather  wait  for  God  to 
thrust  him  forward  as  Messiah  in  His  own  good  time. 
As  a  result  of  this  decision  he  later  concealed  his  con- 
sciousness of  messiahship  from  the  public  until  a  few 
hours  before  his  death.  To  the  public  he  appeared  as 
a  prophet,  although  in  the  inner  circle  of  his  disciples 
his  messianic  consciousness  was  known  as  a  secret. 
Read  Mark  8:  27-30. 


i8  ABOUT  JESUS 

In  the  parable  of  Satan  Worship  he  presented  the 
struggle  through  which  he  passed  in  deciding  to  make 
no  temporary  compromise  with  evil  in  hope  of  thereby 
gaining  larger  opportunity  to  do  good  later.  He  would 
not  make  temporary  compromise  with  the  ideals  of 
either  the  great  Scribes,  the  Priests,  or  those  who 
looked  for  a  revolutionary  fighting  Messiah, 

In  the  course  of  these  great  struggles  it  became 
evident  to  him  that  he  was  measuring  strength  with 
•the  great  central  force  of  evil  in  humanity,  that  as 
messianic  leader  of  men  he  was  set  to  overcome  in  the 
sphere  of  his  own  experience  the  devilish  power  of 
selfishness.  These  temptations  of  Jesus  were  a  part 
of  his  preparation  for  the  public  world  service  that  he 
was  to  render.  He  came  back  from  this  period  of 
seclusion  with  deeper  lines  in  his  face,  a  clearer  light 
in  his  eye,  a  stronger  resolution  in  his  soul.  "Though 
he  was  Son"  he  "learned  obedience  through  the  things 
that  he  suffered." 

4.  Temptation  came  to  Jesus  springing  up  normall}^ 
in  the  development  of  his  own  life  purpose,  not  thrust 
in  arbitrarily  from  outside.  His  temptations  were 
suited  in  power  and  kind  to  the  dimensions  and  nature 
of  his  own  personality.  They  were  terribly  severe  for 
him.  They  were  in  essence  like  all  temptation,  namely, 
temptation  to  secure  something  pleasurable  for  one's 
self  at  the  moment  instead  of  working  for  some  greater 
good  later  that  can  be  shared  with  others.  It  would 
have  given  immediate  relief  to  Jesus'  keenly  sympathetic 
nature  to  have  speedily  stopped  all  the  physical  suffer- 
ing of  men,  but  there  was  another  greater  and  later 
good  to  be  won  for  all  mankind  in  a  harder  way.     One 


DISCIPLINE  OF  TEMPTATION  19 

who  has  so  experienced  the  essential  nature  of  all  temp- 
tation is  prepared  to  sympathize  with  those  whose  par- 
ticular form  of  temptation  may  be  dififerent  from  his 
own.  Coarser  temptations  when  analyzed  are  seen  to 
have  the  same  essential  nature  as  those  more  refined. 
The  man  with  the  liquor  habit  gets  the  pleasurable 
sensation  of  a  drink  now  instead  of  the  greater  good 
later  of  a  sober  man's  home  shared  with  wife  and 
children.  The  man  who  gratifies  lust  gets  a  brief  pleas- 
urable sensation  now,  instead  of  the  greater  good  later 
of  a  clean  home  shared  with  wife  and  children  and  a 
record  which  his  children  as  they  grow  up  can  discover 
without  shame  and  without  the  weakening  of  moral 
purpose  in  the  time  of  their  own  fierce  temptation. 

Questions  : 

How  do  you  define  temptation?    Is  temptation  sin? 

Can  there  be  character  without  temptation?  Why 
should  we  pray,  "Lead  us  not  into  temptation"? 

Did  Jesus  probably  experience  any  recurrence  of  these 
temptations? 

Of  what  value  is  the  experience  of  Jesus  to  a  tempted 
man? 

For  in  that  he  himself  hath  suffered  being  tempted 
he  is  able  to  succor  them  that  are  tempted. — The 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

One  of  the  safeguards  in  time  of  temptation  is  the 
established  habit  of  frequent  silent  inner  conversation 
with  the  immortal  spirit  of  the  tempted  Christ  who  did 
not  fall. 


PART    II:    JESUS    THE    PEOPLE'S    PROPHET, 

HIS  VISION  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  NEW 

AGE   AND    THE   WAY   TO    PREPARE 

FOR  IT 


STUDY    IV 

DISEASE  AND  DEMONS  GIVE  WAY  BE- 
FORE THE  PROPHET'S  PROCLAMA- 
TION .OF  THE  NEW  AGE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Mark  i  :  21-28 

2.  Mark  i  :  29-39 

3.  Mark  i  :  40-45 


4.  Mark  3  :  7-12 

5.  Mark  5  :  1-20 

6.  Mark  9:  14-29 
7.  Luke  13 :  10-17 


Passage  for  Study  : 

John  4:  I.  When  therefore  the  Lord  knew  how 
that  the  Pharisees  had  heard  that  Jesus  was  making 
and  baptizing  more  disciples  than  John  2.  (although 
Jesus  himself  baptized  not,  but  his  disciples),  3.  he 
left  Judaea,  and  departed  again  into  Galilee. 

Mark  i :  14.  Now  after  that  John  was  delivered  up, 
Jesus  came  into  Galilee,  preaching  the  gospel  of 
God,  15.  and  saying.  The  time  is  fulfilled,  and  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand:  repent  ye,  and  believe 
in  the  gospel. 

Matt.  4:  23.  And  Jesus  went  about  in  all  Galilee, 
teaching  in  their  synagogues,  and  preaching  the 
gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  all  manner  of 
disease  and  all  manner  of  sickness  among  the  people. 
24.  And  the  report  of  him  went  forth  into  all  Syria: 
and  they  brought  unto  him  all  that  were  sick,  holden 

23 


24  ABOUT  JESUS 

with  divers  diseases  and  torments,  possessed  with 
demons,  and  epileptic,  and  palsied;  and  he  healed 
them.  25.  And  there  followed  him  great  multitudes 
from  Galilee  and  Decapolis  and  Jerusalem  and 
Judaea  and  from  beyond  the  Jordan. 

I.  The  first  steps  that  Jesus  took  after  his  lonely 
experience  in  the  wilderness  are  obscure.  As  we  have 
seen,  he  felt  that  God  would  not  have  him  in  any  way 
disclose  his  sense  of  messianic  responsibility.  Iri  John's 
Gospel  there  is  evidence  that  while,  he  did  not  go  to 
the  temple  in  Jerusalem  for  a  spectacular  demonstra- 
tion of  power,  he  did  go  to  the  southern  province  and 
begin  to  call  the  nation  to  repentance  just  as  John  was 
doing.  He  attracted  even  larger  crowds  than  those 
that  gathered  about  John,  This  was  offensive  to  John's 
disciples,  although  not  to  John  himself.  When  Jesus 
learned  that  he  was  considered  to  be  a  successful  rival 
of  John,  he  at  once  went  back  to  the  northern  province 
(John  4:  1-3)  and  apparently  did  not  appear  any  more 
in  public  until  John  was  arrested  by  "King  Herod" 
of  Galilee,  whose  private  life  the  prophet  had  boldly 
criticised.  Then  Jesus  began  to  carry  on  vigorously 
the  work  that  John  had  been  obliged  to  drop. 

The  "synagogues"  afforded  him  his  chance.  They 
were  meeting  houses  in  which  the  religiously  inclined 
met  every  Sabbath,  for  the  study  of  the  law  of  Moses 
and  for  prayer.  These  religious  services  were  very 
democratic.  Any  layman  who  showed  ability  to  ex- 
plain the  sacred  scriptures  might  do  so  from  the  syna- 
gogue platform.  Jesus  was  able  to  do  this  very  effec- 
tively and  became  very  popular  as  a  synagogue  speaker. 
Large  audiences  gathered  to  hear  him.     His   message 


DISEASE  AND  DEMONS  GIVE  WAY        25 

at  the  beginning  was  the  same  as  John's  :  "Repent,  for 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand." 

2.  Soon  it  became  evident  that  he  had  power  to  do 
what  John  had  never  attempted,  namely,  to  cure  sick 
people  and  exorcise  demons.  "This  present  age,"  vvhich 
the  Kingdom  of  God  was  to  displace,  was  popularly 
thought  to  be  under  the  control  of  the  Evil  One,  whose 
subject  spirits  ranged  through  the  air,  entering  the 
bodies  of  men  when  they  could  and  inflicting  disease 
upon  them. 

It  was  expected  by  many  that  at  the  great  judgment 
which  would  inaugurate  the  Kingdom  of  God,  all  these 
demons  would  be  driven  back  to  the  "torment"  of  the 
"abyss"  where  they  belonged.  It  therefore  seemed  to 
be  a  very  significant  fact  that  Jesus  was  able  to  frighten 
the  spirits  inhabiting  the  demoniacs,  free  the  demoniacs 
from  their  power,  and  cure  the  diseases  that  they  in- 
flicted. It  looked  as  if  the  Kingdom  really  was  drawing 
near,  and  in  the  course  of  time  led  to  the  occasional 
surmise  that  Jesus  himself  might  possibly  turn  out  to  be 
the  Messiah. 

What  really  ailed  the  demoniacs  cannot  be  discussed 
here.  From  the  modern  standpoint  the  demoniacs  would 
seem  to  have  been  subject  to  the  delusion  that  demons 
were  in  them  and  to  have  spoken  as  they  would  sup- 
pose demons  to  speak,  just  as  a  person  under  the  de- 
lusion that  the  spirit  of  Napoleon  is  in  him  speaks  as 
he  thinks  Napoleon  would  speak.  An  announcement  by 
a  popular  prophet  that  the  day  of  doom  was  near  would 
naturally  throw  demons  into  paroxysms  of  fear. 

In  any  case,  there  was  power  in  the  personality  of 
Jesus  to  bring  case  after  case  back  to   sanity  and  to 


26  ABOUT  JESUS 

cure  case  after  case  of  disease.  Many,  who  in  addition 
to  the  pain  of  disease  suffered  also  the  humiliation  of 
being  thought  to  be  in  the  grip  of  Satan,  experienced 
unspeakable  relief  to  mind  as  well  as  body  under  Jesus' 
heahng  influence.  (For  instance,  the  poor  bent  woman 
who  was  not  able  to  stand  up  straight,  "whom  Satan 
had  bound,  lo,  these  eighteen  years,"  Luke  13 :  16.) 

3.  The  only  hint  Jesus  gives  as  to  his  power  in  such 
cases  is  that  it  came  through  prayer.  In  one  case  of 
demoniacal  possession,  he  said,  "This  kind  goeth  not  out 
except  by  prayer"  (see  sixth  supplementary  reading). 
In  John's  Gospel  (11:  41-42)  he  says:  "Father,  I  thank 
thee  that  thou  heardest  me."  Perhaps  he  was  speaking 
out  of  his  own  experience  of  instantaneous  answer  to 
his  prayer  for  the  sick  who  came  to  him,  when  he  spoke 
of  one's  believing  "that  what  he  is  saying  is  happen- 
ing" (so  the  Greek  of  Mark  11:  23  might  be  trans- 
lated). Perhaps  he  found  later  that  what  he  had 
prayed  for  had  happened  while  he  was  praying,  and 
so  he  said  in  the  same  connection  (Mark  11:  24): 
"All  things  whatsoever  ye  pray  and  ask  for  believe 
that  ye  received  them."  If  this  be  so,  then,  with  his 
wonderful  optimism  regarding  the  powers  that  could 
be  developed  in  mankind  under  his  spiritual  leadership, 
he  foresaw  clearly  a  time  when  men  would  be  brought 
to  the  point  where  they  could  pray  as  he  prayed.  The 
healing  forces  that  can  be  unlocked  by  prayer  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  mind  and  body  we  of 
course  do  not  yet  understand.  It  is  other  phases  of 
prayer  that  at  present  mean  more  to  us. 

4.  The  main  point  in  this  Study  is  that  Jesus  stands 
out  here  as  one  who  looked  forward  confidently  to  the 


DISEASE  AND  DEMON S_  GIVE  WAY         27 

New  Race  in  the  New  Age,  full  of  healthful  moral 
and  physical  life,  and  that  through  his  personality  great 
currents  of  spiritual  and  physical  health  and  sanity 
poured  out  to  men  from  the  abundance  of  an  unseen 
world.  It  is  this  vision  of  the  New  Race  in  the  New 
Age,  conceived  under  changing  forms  of  thought,  that 
has  never  faded  out.  Strangely  enough,  too,  as  will 
be  seen  later,  the  hope  of  realizing  this  vision  has  been 
confidently  connected  generation  after  generation  with 
the  immortal  personality  of  Jesus. 

Questions  : 

Is  it  a  sin  to  disobey  the  laws  of  health? 

To  what  extent,  if  any,  is  moral  character  dependent 
on   health  ? 

What  measures  can  a  man  take  to  keep  himself 
thoroughly  sane  in  his  outlook  on  life? 

Are  you  "under  arms"  because  you  hope  in  this  way 
to  contribute  to  a  better  world,  and  a  better  race? 

Better  in   what  particulars? 

And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  .  .  . 
And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  throne  saying, 
Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  v/ith  men,  and  he 
shall  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  peoples, 
and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their 
God:  and  he  shall  wipe  away  every  tear  from  their 
eyes;  and  death  shall  be  no  more;  neither  shall 
there  be  mourning,  nor  crying,  nor  pain  any  more: 
the  first  things  are  passed  away. — The  Revelation  of 
John. 


STUDY    V 

JESUS'  OUTLINE  OF  THE  CIVILIZATION 
OF  THE  NEW  AGE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  6:  20-26  4.  Colossians  3:  1-15 

2.  Matthew  5:  14-20  5.  Isaiah  11:   1-9 

3.  Luke  4:   14-20  6.  Romans   12:  9-21 

7.  I  Corinthians  13 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Matt.  5:  I.  And  seeing  the  multitudes,  he  went  up 
into  the  mountain:  and  when  he  had  sat  down,  his 
disciples  came  unto  him:  2.  and  he  opened  his  mouth 
and  taught  them,  saying,  3.  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit:  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  4. 
Blessed  are  they  that  mourn:  for  they  shall  be  com- 
forted. 5.  Blessed  are  the  meek:  for  they  shall  in- 
herit the  earth.  6.  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness:  for  they  shall  be  filled. 
7.  Blessed  are  the  merciful:  for  they  shall  obtain 
mercy.  8.  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart:  for  they 
shall  see  God.  9.  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers:  for 
they  shall  be  called  sons  of  God.  10.  Blessed  are 
they  that  have  been  persecuted  for  righteousness' 
sake:  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  11. 
Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  reproach  you,  and 
persecute  you,  and  say  all  manner  of  evil  against 
you  falsely,  for  my  sake.     12.  Rejoice,   and  be   ex- 

28 


CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  NEW  AGE  29 

ceeding  glad:  for  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven: 
for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets  which  were  be- 
fore you.  13.  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth:  but  if 
the  salt  have  lost  its  savour,  wherewith  shall  it  be 
salted?  it  is  thenceforth  good  for  nothing,  but  to  be 
cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot  of  men. 

1.  Jesus  sketches  here  in  bold  outline  his  vision  of 
the  Civilization  of  the  New  Age.  His  sketch  is  not 
the  dream  of  an  idealist  who  lives  remote  from  the 
hard  facts  of  life.  Read  again  Matt.  4:  23-24,  in  the 
last  Study,  and  see  that  it  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
shrieks  of  demoniacs,  the  groans  of  those  tormented 
by  pain  and  those  who  had  lost  their  courage  after  long 
continued  sickness  that  Jesus  confidently  held  up  his 
vision  of  the  "Blessed  Men."  He  pointed  out  the 
qualities  that  will  finally  characterize  the  civilization 
of  the  world. 

2.  Read  the  Passage  for  Study  carefully  and  repeat- 
edly, trying  to  express  in  your  own  language  what 
seems  to  you  to  be  the  meaning  of  each  phrase  regard- 
less of  the  possible  meanings  suggested  below.  Think 
of  each  sentence  also  as  expressing  not  only  a  teach- 
ing of  Jesus  but  also  a  leport,  in  some  particulars  at 
least,  of  his  own  religious  experience. 

3.  "The  poor  in  spirit" — those  who  in  their  spirits 
feel  like  poor  men ;  the  rich  man  who  never  forgets  how 
it  feels  to  be  poor;  the  officer  who  never  forgets  how 
it  feels  to  be  a  private;  the  teacher  who  never  forgets 
hdw  it  feels  to  be  a  pupil;  the  popular  man  who  never 
forgets  how  it  feels  to  be  unpopular  or  a  stranger; 
the  good  man  who  never  fails  to  realize  how  it  would 
feel  to  be  a  bad  man.     Such  people,   who  know   how 


30  ABOUT  JESUS 

to  put  themselves  sympathetically  into  the  places  of 
others,  will  be  found  everywhere  in  the  New  Age. 

"They  that  mourn" — those  who  have  had  experiences 
that  make  them  sad ;  their  friends  have  died ;  they 
have  missed  opportunities  to  do  what  they  wanted  very 
much  to  do  ;  they  mourn  over  their  failures  and  over 
the  wrong  things  they  have  done.  But  this  sad  experi- 
ence is  more  than  compensated  for  by  the  strong  sure 
sympathy  with  which  they  will  be  comforted  by  God 
and  by  the  friends  they  will  find  in  the  New  Age.  They 
will  themselves  become  strong  characters.  There  is  a 
peculiar  fineness  of  character  to  be  found  in  a  man 
who  has  passed  through  a  sad  experience  and  been  com- 
forted. He  has  made  the  great  discovery  that  there  is 
kindness  underneath  the  surface  of  life,  that  there  is 
kindness  at  the  very  heart  of  the  universe. 

"The  meek" — those  who  with  due  sense  of  their  own 
limitations  hold  themselves  ready  to  help  wheYe  they 
can.  This  does  not  mean  any  underestimate  of  them- 
selves or  failure  to  assert  themselves  on  proper  occa- 
sions. Jesus  said  that  he  was  "meek  and  lowly  of 
heart,"  but  he  was  exceedingly  vigorous  in  speech  and 
deed  when  there  was  occasion  to  be.  It  is  these  people 
who  are  ready  to  help  that  will  finally  possess  the 
earth — the  earth  with  all  its  resources,  its  mines,  forests, 
and  farms.  Selfish  men  will  finally  be  eliminated  from 
human  civilization.  There  are  certain  forces  now  in 
human  society  which  tend  either  to  expel  or  shut  up 
the  selfish  man  as  a  disease  microbe  is  sometimes  ex- 
pelled from  or  encysted  in  the  human  body. 

"They  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness" — 
those  that  are  hungry  for  character,  not  merely  for  repu- 


CIJ'ILIZATION  OF  THE  NEW  AGE  31 

tation.  They  would  rather  be  right  than  be  anything  else. 
These  persons  will  be  "filled,"  that  is,  their  ideals  will 
be  realized.  They  will  succeed  abundantly  in  being 
what  they  so  much  want  to  be.  Their  weak  points  will 
become  their  points  of  conspicuous  strength. 

"The  merciful"— those  who  do  not  hold  a  grudge, 
who  are  not  quick  to  imagine  that  they  have  been  in- 
sulted, but  who  look  out  all  day  on  the  lives  about  them 
with  a  broad-minded  good  nature,  putting  a  charitable 
construction  on  the  actions  of  others.  They  remember 
that  the  other  man  is  tired  and  hungry  and  wet  and 
dirty  and  they  make  allowance  for  the  way  he  talks 
and  acts.  God's  mercy  is  to  be  theirs  in  the  Great 
Day.  and  man's  mercy  in  their  daily  need. 

"The  pure  in  heart"— those  who  clean  out  of  their 
hearts  everything  dirty.  Men  generally  washed  their 
bodies  ceremoniously  when  they  went  to  the  Temple  to 
see  God.  Jesus  said  they  should  clean  their  hearts, 
clean  them  of  all  ill  will,  spite,  lust,  pride.  Then  the 
vision  of  God  would  rise  in  their  souls.  They  would 
have  a  growing  sense  of  the  reality  and  nearness  of 
an  unseen  world,  and  all  the  sense  of  peace,  security, 
largeness  of  life,  and  outlook  that  this  brings  with  it. 

"The  peace  makers"— those  who  make  peace  between 
themselves  and  other  men  and  God;  those  who  settle 
disputes  or  prevent  their  arising  among  those  about 
them.  They  tell  this  man  the  pleasant  thing  that  man 
said  about  him,  not  the  ugly  criticism  he  passed  upon 
him.  Follow  them  around  all  day  and  you  will  find  a 
trail  of  peace  and  good  will  behind  them.  When  they 
war,  whether  on  the  small  scale  of  an  individual  life 
or  on  a  national  scale,  it  is  for  the  sake  of  an  honor- 


Z2.  ABOUT  JESUS 

able  peace,  a  peace  leading  to  the  moral  betterment  of 
all  concerned. 

The  people  who  possess  the  qualities  described  in 
these  sentences  are  called  "the  salt  of  the  earth."  Salt 
preserves  from  decay.  These  people  keep  civilization 
from  disintegrating.  They  hold  neighborhoods  and 
nations  together.  They  make  any  body  of  men  a  real 
unit. 

4.  This  picture  of  the  civilization  that  is  to  be,  we 
hold  boldly  up  today  in  the  midst  of  flying  shrapnel, 
the  groans  of  the  wounded,  and  the  discouragement 
of  those  who  are  crippled.  There  is  something  back 
of 'all  things  that  can  bring  it  to  pass.  There  is  an 
unseen  force  in  human  society,  the  presence  of  which 
gives  us  the  same  confidence  that  Jesus  felt  in  the 
midst  of  his  forbidding  surroundings.  This  vision  is 
a  vision  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  back  of  it  is  the 
will  of  God.  Read  the  Passage  for  Study  again  with 
this  thought  in  mind. 

Questions  : 

What  encouraging  features  do  you  see  in  the  present 
situation  of  the  world? 

Take  an  inventory  of  your  own  life:  What  is  there 
in  it  that  you  would  like  to  have  last  forever?  Rather, 
what  trends  are  there  in  it  that  you  would  like  to  see 
followed   out   indefinitely? 

Who,  in  your  circle  of  acquaintances,  illustrate  in 
some  degree  any  of  these  qualities  mentioned  in  Jesus' 
words  ? 

Think  of  these  persons  and  these  qualities.  "What 
gets  your  attention  gets  you." 


CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  NEW  AGE  33 

"I  would  be  true,  for  there  are  those  who  trust  me; 
I  would  be  pure,   for  there  are  those  who  care; 
I  would  be  strong,  for  there  is  much  to  suffer; 
I  would  be  brave,  for  there  is  much  to  dare; 
I  would  be  friend  to  all— the  foe,  the  friendless ; 
I  would  be  giving  and  forget  the  gift ; 
I  would  be  humble,  for  I  know  my  weakness ; 
I  would  look  up,  and  laugh,  and  love,  and  lift." 

Howard  Arnold  Walter. 


STUDY    VI 

ISIO  CONTEMPT  FOR  MAN  NOR  LUST 

FOR  WOMAN  AMONG  THOSE 

LOOKING  FOR  THE  NEW 

AGE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  18:9-14  4.  Mark  10:2-12 

2.  Luke  7:36-50  5.  I  Peter  2:  11-17 

3.  John  8:  i-ii  6.  I  Corinthians  6:9-20 

7.  Philippians  4  :  8-9 

Passage  for   Study  : 

Matt.  5:  21.  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to 
them  of  old  time,  Thou  shalt  not  kill;  and  whoso- 
ever shall  kill  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment: 

22.  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  every  one  who  is  angry 
with  his  brother  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment; 
and  whosoever  shall  say  to  his  brother,  Raca,  shall 
be  in  danger  of  the  council;  and  whosoever  shall 
say,  Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  hell  of  fire. 

23.  If  therefore  thou  art  offering  thy  gift  at  the  altar, 
and  there  rememberest  that  thy  brother  hath  aught 
against  thee,  24.  leave  there  thy  gift  before  the  altar, 
and  go  thy  way,  first  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother, 
and  then  come  and  offer  thy  gift. 

27.  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said,  Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery:  28.  but  I  gay  unto  you,  that  every 

§4 


NO  'CONTEMPT  NOR  Lb'bT  35 

one  that  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her  hath 
committed  adultery  with  her  already  in  his  heart. 

31.  It  was  said  also,  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his 
wife,  let  him  give  her  a  writing  of  divorcement: 
32.  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  every  one  that  putteth 
away  his  wife,  saving  for  the  cause  of  fornication, 
maketh  her  an  adulteress:  and  whosoever  shall  marry 
her   when   she   is   put   away   committeth   adultery. 

1.  Jesus  taught  that  right  character  necessitates  hav- 
ing the  proper  disposition  or  purpose  with  reference 
to  other  human  beings,  men  and  women.  So  long  as 
a  man's  relations  to  the  people  about  him  are  not  right, 
it  is  useless  for  him  to  gloss  the  situation  over  by 
bringing  gifts  to  God.  See  the  vivid  picture  in 
vs.  23-24.  A  man  had  decided  to  make  a  great  gift  to 
God.  He  brought  his  gift  to  the  temple,  hunted  up  a 
priest,  and  went  with  him  to  the  altar.  Just  then  he 
happened  to  remember  that  over  in  the  city  there  was 
a  man  whom  he  had  wronged.  It  might  seem  that  this 
thought  need  not  interrupt  the  important  ceremony 
that  was  just  reaching  its  climax.  Jesus  thought  other- 
wise. He  said  that  the  generous  would-be  worshiper 
must  lay  his  gift  down  on  the  pavement  by  the  altar 
and  leave  the  priest  waiting,  while  he  went  across  the 
city  to  find  the  man  whom  he  had  wronged.  When  he 
had  done  his  best  to  right  this  wrong,  he  could  ofifer 
his  gift  with  some  hope  of  intercourse  with  God. 

2.  In  very  strong  language  Jesus  expressed  his  in- 
dignation at  a  man  who  felt  in  his  heart  anything  like 
contempt  for  another  man.  He  uses  words  and  makes 
distinctions  that  were  entirely  intelligible  to  the  Jews 
of  his  day,  but  which  are  not  quite  clear  to  us.    "Raca'' 


Z6  ABOUT  JESUS 

was  a  word  in  Jesus'  mother-tongue  which  meant 
"empty  headed"  and  was  probably  frequently  used  by 
men  who  felt  contempt  for  others.  It  was  one  of  the 
stinging,  hate-breeding  words  used  by  the  men  whom 
John  the  Baptist  had  called  "vipers."  Perhaps  the  word 
translated  "fool"  was  another  such  word  from  Jesus' 
mother-tongue.  In  any  case  it  is  perfectly  clear  that 
Jesus  condemned  not  simply  the  man  who  in  spite 
rose  up  and  murdered  another  man,  but  also  the  man 
who  rose  up  and  scorned  another  man.  This  man,  as 
well  as  the  murderer,  if  he  did  not  repent  as  Jesus  was 
urging  men  to  do,  would  find  himself  in  the  place  of 
punishment  which  the  Jews  had  long  described  as  the 
fiery  "Gehenna."  (The  name  "Gehenna"  seems  orig- 
inally to  have  designated  a  valley  near  Jerusalem  where 
horrible  human  sacrifices  had  once  been  offered  by  the 
Jews  and  where  the  prophets  had  said  God  would 
consequently  summon  the  nation  for  punishment.) 

This  disposition  which  Jesus  resents  is  one  which 
looks  down  on  another  man  with  insolent  contempt. 
Its  essential  element  is  ill  will.  It  does  not  wish  him 
well.  It  does  not  wish  for  him  a  fair  fighting  chance 
for  good  things.  If  he  is  a  bad  man  it  does  not  wish 
for  him  a  chance  to  become  a  good  man.  It  wishes 
simply  to  see  him  stay  bad  and  be  despised,  as  such  an 
^'empty  head"  ought  to  be ! 

The  contemptuous  man  likes  to  see  another  worse, 
and  worse  off,  than  himself.  He  needs  such  another 
man  to  set  off  properly  his  own  superior  excellence ! 
He  likes  to  use  the  other  man  to  boost  himself,  and 
drops  him  as  soon  as  he  ceases  to  be  useful  for  this 
purpose.      It   was   of    such   a   man   that   Jesus    said    in 


NO  CONTEMPT  NOR  LUST  37 

another  place:  "He  that  exalts  himself  shall  be  abased." 
God  does  not  abase  him.  He  abases  himself.  Simply 
liking  to  see  another  man  worse  off  than  one's  self 
and  being  unwilling  to  help  him  is,  in  and  of  itself,  a 
degrading  experience.  It  ultimatel)^  makes  a  devil  of 
the  man  who  fixes  that  feeling  upon  himself.  It  intro- 
duces the  beginnings  of  hell  into  his  heart. 

3.  This  same  disposition  turned  toward  a  woman 
further  expresses  itself  in  simple  lust.  It  is  willing  to 
use  her  for  the  gratification  of  passion  with  no  thought 
of  her  own  welfare,  with  insolent  contempt  and  ill  will 
for  the  woman  herself.  Her  chances  for  goodness  and 
badness  present  and  future  are  utterly  ignored.  If  she 
is  already  a  bad  woman  the  man  is  perfectly  willing  to 
have  her  remain  the  kind  of  woman  she  is — sometimes 
insists  on  it.  He  makes  no  effort  to  help  the  possibilities 
of  better  womanhood,  which  Jesus  always  saw  within 
her,  to  assert  themselves. 

To  take  this  attitude  toward  a  woman  degrades  the 
man,  just  as  contempt  for  another  man  degrades  him. 
No  man  ever  thinks  in  this  way  of  a  woman  without 
being  less  of  a  man.  It  will  pay  him  to  make  serious 
sacrifice  to  overcome  such  a  disposition.  If  he  does 
not,  it  will  ultimately  make  a  devil  out  of  him. 

4.  It  is  probably  this  same  regard  for  the  interests  of 
the  woman  that  prompted  the  legislation  of  Moses  re- 
ferred to  in  vs.  31-32.  Before  that  time  the  husband 
had  been  able  to  divorce  his  wife  by  simply  telling  her 
to  leave.  This  sent  her  out  into  the  community  with- 
out credentials,  subject  to  the  suspicion  that  she  was  a 
bad  woman.  When  the  law  began  to  require  the  hus- 
band to  give  his  wife  a  written  statement  of  his  reason 


38  ABOUT  JESUS 

for  divorcing  her,  this  reason  was  often  seen  to  be  one 
which  in  no  way  discredited  her  virtue. 

5.  Both  contempt  and  lust  are  perversions  of  true 
instincts.  A  man  must  have  a  proper  self-assertion  over 
against  another  man.  Otherwise  he  will  sacrifice  his 
individuality  and  not  be  the  force  in  human  society  that 
God  means  him  to  be.  But  it  must  be  a  friendly  self- 
assertion  and  not  one  that  contemptuously  overrides  the 
other  man.  The  sexual  instinct  is  essential  to  manhood 
and  fatherhood.  It  creates  the  family  and  the  home. 
Lust  is  its  perversion. 

Questions  : 

In  what  sense,  if  any,  is  "race  pride"  justifiable?  Un- 
justifiable? 

Is  there  anything  in  the  present  world  situation  that 
tends  permanently  to  increase  inter-racial  respect? 
That  tends  permanently  to  break  down  class  prejudice? 

What  is  really  mearit  by  "respect"  for  another  person  ? 

What  is  the  strongest  reason  for  the  absolutely  re- 
spectful treatment  of  every  type  of  woman? 

"For  mankind  are  one  in  spirit,  and  an  instinct  bears 

along, 
Round  the  earth's  electric  circle,  the  swift  flash  of  right 

or  wrong ; 
Whether  conscious  or  unconscious,  yet  Humanity's  vast 

frame 
Through    its   ocean-sundered   fibres    feels   the   gush    of 

joy  or  shame  ; — 
In  the  gain  or  loss  of  one  race  all  the  rest  have  equal 

claim." 
— James  Russell  Lowell,  "The  Present  Crisis." 


STUDY    VII 

PLAIN  SPEECH  AND  NO  REVENGE 

AMONG  THOSE  WHO  LOOK 

FOR  THE  NEW  AGE 

Supplementary   Readings  : 

1.  Luke  6:27-38  4-  I  Peter  2:  18-25 

2.  Romans  12:9-20  5-  James  3:1-12 

3.  Luke  23:33-38  6.  Matthew  18:  15-20 

7.   Matthew   18:21-35 

Passage  for  Study : 

Matt.  5:  33.  Again,  ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said 
to  them  of  old  time,  Thou  shalt  not  forswear  thy- 
self, but  shalt  perform  unto  the  Lord  thine  oaths: 
34.  but  I  say  unto  you,  Swear  not  at  all;  neither  by 
the  heaven,  for  it  is  the  throne  of  God;  35.  nor  by 
the  earth,  for  it  is  the  footstool  of  his  feet;  nor  by 
Jerusalem,  for  it  is  the  city  of  the  great  King.  36. 
Neither  shalt  thou  swear  by  thy  head,  for  thou  canst 
not  make  one  hair  white  or  black.  37.  But  let  your 
speech  be.  Yea,  yea;  Nay,  nay:  and  whatsoever  is 
more  than  these  is  of  the  evil  one.  38.  Ye  have 
heard  that  it  was  said,  An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a 
tooth  for  a  tooth:  39.  but  I  say  unto  you,  Resist  not 
him  that  is  evil:  but  whosoever  smiteth  thee  on 
thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also.  40. 
And  if  any  man  would  go  to  law  with  thee,  and  take 
away   thy   coat,   let   him   have   thy   cloke   also.     41. 

39 


40  ABOUT  JESUS 

And  whosoever  shall  compel  thee  to  go  one  mile, 
go  with  him  twain.  42.  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee, 
and  from  him  that  would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not 
thou  away.  43.  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said,  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour,  and  hate  thine  enemy:  44. 
but  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your  enemies,  and  pray 
for  them  that  persecute  you;  45.  that  ye  may  be  sons 
of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven:  for  he  maketh 
his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  the  good,  and  sendeth 
rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust.  46.  For  if  ye  love 
them  that  love  you,  what  reward  have  ye?  do  not 
even  the  publicans  the  same?  47.  And  if  ye  salute 
your  brethren  only,  what  do  ye  more  than  others?  do 
not  even  the  Gentiles  the  same?  48.  Ye  therefore 
shall  be  perfect,  as  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect. 

I.  To  the  man  of  the  West  the  man  in  parts  of  the 
Near  East  seems  "gushing."  He  is  extravagant  in  his 
expressions  of  affection  and  is  constantly  appealing  to 
God  or  to  some  sacred  object  as  his  witness  in  support 
of  his  assertions.  Jesus  gives  specimens  of  such  expres- 
sions which  he  was  frequently  hearing  in  common  con- 
versation. He  said  in  protest  that  while  the  law  had 
simply  forbidden  falsehood  in  connection  with  an  oath, 
he  forbade  the  oath  itself.  In  the  civilization  of  the 
Coming  Age  men  would  be  so  absolutely  reliable  that 
a  plain  "Yes"  or  "No"  would  be  all  that  was  necessary. 

Alodern  profanity  springs  from  a  variety  of  motives. 
Often  it  indicates  no  real  meanness  of  disposition. 
Men  sometimes  express  the  most  kindly  feeling  in  lan- 
guage that  is  very  startling  to  one  not  accustomed  to  it. 
It  is  a  "gushing"  excess  of  words,  an  over  decoration 
of  speech  that  is  in  bad  taste,  like  a  coating  of  paint 
and  powder  on  a  woman's  face. 


PLAIN  SPEECH  AND  NO  REVENGE        41 

Sometimes  it  indicates  a  lack  of  thought.  The  man 
has  not  much  to  say  and  so  he  says  it  hard,  like  a  min- 
ister who  pounds  the  pulpit  vigorously  when  his  stock 
of  ideas  runs  low. 

A  careless  appeal  to  God  in  support  of  an  assertion 
indicates  that  a  man  has  not  much  confidence  in  the 
reliability  of  his  own  unsupported  word.  Often  it  is 
perfectly  evident  that  he  is  not  sincere.  He  does  not 
mean  what  he  says.  He  does  not  really  want  all  the 
people  and  things  damned  that  he  seems  to. 

The  use  of  the  name  of  God  in  trivial  connections  of 
course  indicates  a  lack  of  reverence  for  God.  It  is  like 
using  the  flag  on  trivial  occasions  or  in  disreputable 
connections.  A  man  who  so  uses  the  name  of  God  testi- 
fies loudly  to  the  fact  that  he  has  no  aspirations  for 
patriotism  in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

What  Jesus  mainly  emphasizes  is  the  necessity  of 
reverent  sincerity  and  simplicity  in  speech— really  meayi- 
ing  everything  one  says. 

2.  Jesus  was  against  revenge.  He  begins  his  discus- 
sion of  this  point  also  by  a  reference  to  the  law.  In  this 
point,  as  in  all  other  points  mentioned  in  this  chapter 
of  Matthew,  he  represents  himself  not  to  be  opposing 
the  law,  but  to  be  following  out  the  beginning  which  had 
been  made  in  the  law.  This  is  apparently  what  he  means 
in  v.  17  of  this  chapter  when  he  said  that  he  came  not 
to  pull  down,  but  to  "fulfil  the  law,"  that  is  to  fill  it  out, 
to  make  it  complete  in  its  application  to  the  life  of 
man.  The  law  limited  revenge,  Jesus  eliminated  it 
altogether.  The  law  said  that  if  a  man  knocked  out 
another  man's  tooth  the  injured  man  must  inflict  no 
extra  injury  upon  the  one  who  had  attacked  him.     He 


42  ABOUT  JESUS 

must  be  content  simply  to  knock  his  tooth  out  and  do 
no  further  injury.  Jesus  said  that  he  must  inflict  no 
injury  at  all  in  retaliation. 

3.  This  teaching  reaches  its  most  fundamental  and 
inclusive  statement  in  the  injunction  to  love  enemies. 
The  law  had  said,  Limit  your  hate;  hate  only  enemies. 
Jesus  said,  Hate  not  even  your  enemies.  Be  possessed 
of  such  an  invincible  good  will  that  no  abuse  of  your 
person  or  your  property  can  stop  its  outflow.  The 
motive  which  Jesus  uses  in  appealing  for  the  exercise 
of  this  invincible  good  will  is  the  fact  that  this  is  the 
way  God  who  is  your  Father  conducts  himself :  "that  ye 
may  be  sons  of  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven."  That  is, 
"Be  true  to  the  traditions  of  your  family!  Remember 
who  your  Father  is!"  In  sending  sunshine  and  rain 
God  does  not  discriminate  between  the  fields  and  crops 
of  the  good  and  bad.  God's  sons  must  be  perfect  in 
this  particular,  that  is,  impartial  as  God  is.  The  state- 
ment in  V.  48  does  not  mean  that  men  are  to  be  the 
equals  of  God  in  all  his  perfections  of  character,  but 
simply  that  they  are  to  be  like  him  in  the  point  under 
discussion.  So  it  is  put  in  Luke :  "Be  ye  merciful,  even 
as  your  Father  is  merciful." 

4.  Some  of  the  statements  in  vs.  39-42  seem  extreme, 
at  first  thought,  and  impracticable.  Vs.  39-40,  for  in- 
stance, would  seem  to  deny  to  the  poor  all  protection 
by  courts  of  law  from  the  attacks  of  unscrupulous  men, 
and  strict  obedience  to  the  letter  of  v.  42  would  some- 
times mean  moral  ruin  for  the  borrower  as  well  as 
bankruptcy  for  the  lender.  Perhaps  Jesus  put  his  teach- 
ing in  strikingly  concrete  form  to  make  it  impressive, 
and  trusted  to  the  common  sense  of  men  to  understand 


PLAIN  SPEECH  AND  NO  REVENGE        43 

what  he  meant.  Possibly  some  of  these  statements  were 
influenced  by  the  idea  that  the  judgment  day  was  near 
at  hand.  In  that  case  we  should  accept  the  principle 
as  of  permanent  validity  and  feel  free  to  make  such 
varying  application  of  it  as  loyalty  to  the  principle 
would  require.  An  invincible  good  will  would  always 
be  demanded  of  us.  It  would  be  left  to  our  consciences 
to  determine  case  by  case  how  that  good  will  should 
express  itself.  Such  responsibility  would  be  conducive 
to  the  development  of  character. 

Always  re-read  the  Passage  for  Study.  Some  of  your 
best  thoughts  will  come  to  you  in  this  way. 

Questions  : 

What  are  the  best  practical  ways  of  guarding  against, 
or  breaking  off  the  habit  of  profanity? 

What  seems  to  you  to  be  the  effect  of  profanity  on 
general  character,  as  you  have  experienced  it  yourself 
or  observed  it  in  others? 

Is  it  possible  in  war  to  keep  free  from  personal  hate 
of  individual  enemies? 

How  can  one  best  do  this  and  yet  be  an  efficient 
soldier? 


STUDY    VIII 

SHOWING  READINESS  FOR  THE  NEW 

AGE  BY  CARE  OF  THE  NEIGHBOR 

IN  NEED 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Matthew  25  :  31-46  4.  Luke  16:19-31 

2.  James  2:  14-26  5.  I  Timothy  6:  11-19 

3.  II  Timothy  1:8-18  6.  II  Corinthians  1:3-11 

7.  Job  29 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Luke  10:  25.  And  behold,  a  certain  lawyer  stood 
up  and  tempted  him,  saying,  Master,  what  shall  I 
do  to  inherit  eternal  life?  26.  And  he  said  unto  him, 
What  is  written  in  the  law?  how  readest  thou?  27. 
And  he  answering  said.  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mindj 
and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  28.  And  he  said  unto 
him.  Thou  hast  answered  right:  this  do,  and  thou 
shalt  live.  29.  But  he,  desiring  to  justify  himself, 
said  unto  Jesus,  And  who  is  my  neighbour?  30. 
Jesus  made  answer  and  said;  A  certain  man  was 
going  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho;  and  he  fell 
among  robbers,  which  both  stripped  him  and  beat 
him,  and  departed,  leaving  him  half  dead.  31.  And 
by   chance    a   certain   priest   was   going   down    that 

44 


CARE  OF  NEIGHBOR  IN  NEED  45 

way:  and  when  he  saw  him,  he  passed  by  on  the 
other  side.  32.  And  in  like  manner  a  Levite  also, 
when  he  came  to  the  place,  and  saw  him,  passed  by ' 
on  the  other  side.  33.  But  a  certain  Samaritan,  as 
he  journeyed,  came  where  he  was:  and  when  he  saw 
him,  he  was  moved  with  compassion,  34.  and  came 
to  him,  and  bound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  on  them 
oil  and  wine;  and  he  set  him  on  his  own  beast,  and 
brought  him  to  an  inn,  and  took  care  of  him.  35. 
And  on  the  morrow  he  took  out  two  pence,  and  gave 
them  to  the  host,  and  said.  Take  care  of  him;  and 
whatsoever  thou  spendest  more,  I,  when  I  come 
back  again,  will  repay  thee.  36.  Which  of  these 
three,  thinkest  thou,  proved  neighbour  unto  him  that 
fell  among  the  robbers?  37.  And  he  said.  He  that 
shewed  mercy  on  him.  And  Jesus  said  unto  him, 
Go,  and  do  thou  likewise. 

I.  A  religious  man,  a  "lawyer"  who  gave  his  whole 
life  up  to  the  study  of  the  law  of  Moses,  asked  Jesus 
how  a  man  might  make  sure  of  a  place  in  the  New 
Order.  He  asked  this  question  in  a  rather  critical  spirit, 
"testing"  Jesus.  We  shall  see  later  that  Jesus'  teaching 
about  the  nature  of  true  religion  was  already  being 
viewed  with  some  suspicion  by  the  Jewish  religious 
leaders.  Jesus  as  usual  referred  the  man  to  the  Jew- 
ish scriptures  as  the  source  of  information.  A  state- 
ment found  in  these  scriptures  satisfied  Jesus,  for 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  Studies  it  presented 
the  great  idea  that  was  central  in  his  teaching :  Loving 
God  with  all  the  heart  and  loving  one's  neighbor  as  him- 
self. The  lawyer,  suspecting  that  Jesus  would  have 
some  peculiar  views,  tried  to  ferret  them  out  by  a 
further  question.     He  asked  who  a  man's  neighbor  is. 


46  ABOUT  JESUS 

Jesus  in  reply  told  a  story  which  not  only  answered 
the  question  but  gave  information  regarding  proper 
treatment  of  a  neighbor  and  contained  a  criticism  of 
the  great  men  of  the  temple.  A  man  Hes  wounded 
and  naked  by  the  roadside.  He  has  been  robbed  by 
brigands.  He  evidently  has  nothing  left  with  which  to 
reward  a  rescuer.  He  will  simply  be  a  source  of  ex- 
pense to  anyone  who  takes  an  interest  in  him.  Two 
religious  professionals  come  riding  by,  both  men  of 
the  temple — one  a  high  official,  the  other  an  inferior 
official.  They  have  finished  their  period  of  required 
service  at  the  temple  and  are  going  home  to  Jericho, 
fifteen  miles  from  Jerusalem,  where  some  four  thousand 
priests  are  said  to  have  lived.  Each  in  turn  sees  the 
naked  man  lying  by  the  roadside  bleeding  and  gasping 
for  breath.  Each  in  turn,  after  looking  at  him  for  a 
moment,  veers  off  to  the  other  side  of  the  road  and 
goes  on  home.  Neither  of  them  felt  that  it  was  any 
of  his  business  to  look  after  the  man.  Neither  of  them 
saw  any  connection  between  this  situation  and  religion. 
The  wounded  man's  heart  sank  within  him  as  he  saw 
them  leave.  Then  there  came  riding  down  the  road  a 
man  whom  neither  of  the  religious  officials  would  have 
spoken  to — a  man  from  Samaria  whose  religion,  if  he 
had  any,  was  to  their  minds  worse  than  none,  a  wicked 
perversion  of  Jewish  religion.  But  he  had  within  him 
what  to  the  mind  of  Jesus  was  the  very  essence  of  reli- 
gion, a  truly  merciful  heart.  As  soon  as  he  saw  the  man 
he  got  down  from  his  donkey,  gave  first  aid  to  the 
injured,  lifted  him  on  to  the  donkey,  and  walked  by 
his  side  until  they  reached  an  inn.  He  personally  took 
care  of  him  through  the  rest  of  the  day  and  through 


CARE  OF  NEIGHBOR  IN  NEED  47 

the  night.  When  he  left  the  next  day  he  paid  the  man's 
hotel  bill  for  some  days  in  advance,  and  became  per- 
sonally Responsible  for  any  further  expenditures  that 
might  become  necessary.  He  planned  to  be  back  soon 
and  follow  the  case  up. 

When  Jesus  asked  the  lawyer  which  one  of  the  three 
travelers  was  the  really  neighborly  man,  he  had  to 
admit  that  it  was  the  Samaritan,  though  he  could  not 
bring  himself  to  pronounce  the  hated  name!  Jesus  told 
him  to  imitate  the  Samaritan,  if  he  wished  to  show  that 
he  really  loved  God  and  his  neighbors  and  hoped  to  have 
a  place  in  the  New  Order. 

2.  One  of  Jesus'  greatest  ideas  appears  here,  namely, 
that  God  himself  is  present  in  every  human  situation. 
All  about  this  poor  man  in  his  pain  and  blood  was  God. 
The  "Father  in  Heaven,"  whom  Jesus  felt  to  be  present 
to  notice  the  young  sparrow  tumbling  from  its  nest  to 
the  ground,  saw  this  man  fall  by  the  roadside,  saw  the 
robbers  ride  away  with  their  plunder,  saw  the  priest  and 
the  Levite  disappear  down  the  road.  And,  according 
to  Jesus,  God  cared  about  what  He  saw.  The  only  way 
to  love  God  was  to  love  Him  there  where  He  was  and  to 
join  Him  in  caring  for  the  wounded  neighbor.  The 
priest  and  the  Levite  thought  that  God  stayed  in  His 
white  and  gilded  holy  Temple  Hstening  to  the  music  and 
song  of  the  Levite  band  and  chorus,  smelling  the  incense 
and  odor  of  sacrifice  burned  by  priests.  Jesus  knew 
that  God  was  out  on  the  great  highways  of  life,  the 
unseen  companion  of  every  man  who  had  fallen  by  the 
way.  Jesus'  influence  on  our  conception  of  religion  is 
seen  in  the  fact  that  we  recognize  the  ir religion  of  any 
man,  no  matter  what  his  religious  pretensions  may  be, 


48  ABOUT  JESUS 

who  in  his  thought  and  practice   divorces  his   religion 
from  merciful  ministry  to  human  needs. 

3.  In  our  modern  experience  the  world  ha^  become 
a  great  neighborhood.  Electricity  has  brought  the 
ends  of  the  earth  nearer  to  us  than  two  neighboring 
farm  houses  were  to  each  other  a  hundred  years  ago. 
The  war  is  bringing  large  and  diverse  sections  of  The 
human  race  into  unified  action.  In  the  war's  hot  melt- 
ing-pot nations  are  being  fused.  Peoples  are  being 
brought  together,  not  only  in  space  but  in  spirit.  A  new 
soul  is  being  born  in  our  country  which  seems  likely  to 
be  a  more  truly  neighborly  soul,  ready  after  the  war 
has  ended  for  the  industries  of  peace  which  the  world- 
neighborhood  will  once  more  develop. 

Questions  : 

Jesus  seems  to  say  that  living  really  consists  in  loving 
It  IS  sometimes  said  that  living  consists  in,  or  depends 
on,  the  adaptation  of  an  organism  to  its  surroundings— 
for  instance  the  adaptation  of  a  fish  to  water.  If  so, 
now  does  living  consist  in  loving? 

Why  was  it  worth  while  to  pay  so  much  attention  to 
the  wounded  man?  What  is  the  duty  of  society  toward 
those  who  are  down  and  out? 

Are  there  any  hints  in  this  story  that  have  a  bearing 
on  the  methods  of  modern  philanthropic  social  work? 

''He  asked  her  once  again,  'What  hearest  thou? 
What  means  the  voice  of  Life?'     She  answered  'Love' 
^or  love  IS  life,  and  they  who  do  not  love 
Are  not  alive.    But  every  soul  that  loves, 
Lives  in  the  heart  of  God  and  hears  Him  speak.' " 

—Henry  Van  Dyke,  "Vera." 


STUDY    IX 

THOSE  READY  FOR  THE  NEW  AGE 

COUNT  ON  GOD  WITHOUT 

NERVOUS  WORRY 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  12  :  22-34  4-  Philippians  4  :  4-7 

2.  Matthew  6  :  16-24  5-  Philippians  4 :  10-20 

3.  Psalm  27  6.  II    Corinthians    12:1-10 

7.   Psalm  23 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Mat!-.  6:  25.  Therefore  I  say  unto  you,  Be  not 
anxious  for  your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat,  or  what  ye 
shall  drink;  nor  yet  for  your  body,  what  ye  shall 
out  on.  Is  not  the  life  more  than  the  food,  and  the 
body  than  the  raiment?  26.  Behold  the  birds  of 
the  heaven,  that  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap, 
nor  gather  into  barns;  and  your  heavenly  Father 
feedeth  them.  Are  not  ye  of  much  more  value  than 
they^  27.  And  which  of  you  by  being  anxious  can 
add  one  cubit  unto  his  stature?  28.  And  why  are  ye 
anxious  concerning  raiment?  Consider  the  lilies  ot 
the  field,  how  they  grow;  they  toil  not,  neither  do 
they  spin:  29.  yet  I  say  unto  you,  that  even  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these. 
30  But  if  God  doth  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  held, 
which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven, 

49 


50  ABOUT  JESUS 

shall  he  not  much  more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little 
faith?  31.  Be  net  therefore  anxious,  saying,  What 
shall  we  eat?  or,  What  shall  we  drink?  or,  Where- 
withal shall  we  be  clothed?  32.  For  after  all  these 
things  do  the  Gentiles  seek;  for  your  heavenly 
Father  knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of  all  these  things. 

33.  But  seek  ye  first  his  kingdom,  and  his  righteous- 
ness; and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you. 

34.  Be  not  therefore  anxious  for  the  morrow:  for  the* 
morrow  will  be  anxious  for  itself.  Sufficient  unto 
the  day  is  the  evil  thereof. 

I.  The  men  whose  chief  concern  in  life  is  to  help 
secure  the  better  world  that  Jesus  so  confidently  be- 
lieved in  must  be  men  who  do  not  worry.  The  great 
enterprise  to  which  they  have  committed  themselves 
demands  that  all  their  energy  be  saved  for  work  and 
none  be  wasted  in  worry.  Most  men  will  naturally  be 
inclined  to  worry  especially  about  food  and  clothing, 
the  evident  essentials  of  comfortable  efficient  life.  They 
will  naturally  feel  that  the  danger  of  failing  to  get  food 
and  clothing  is  so  great  that  they  cannot  wisely  spend 
time  and  strength  thinking  about  making  the  world 
better,  much  less  can  they  "seek  first  the  Kingdom  of 
God"!  Jesus'  own  experience  enabled  him  to  sym- 
pathize with  this  feeling,  but  he  had  overcome  it  and 
wished  to  have  everyone  else  share  his  victory. 

The  way  to  overcome  it  was  first  to  realize  that  it 
did  no  good  to  worry,  and  then  to  see  that  the  active 
presence  everywhere  of  God,  the  Heavenly  Father, 
removed  all  occasion  for  worry.  A  man  could  not  by 
worrying  lengthen  his  life  course  by  a  single  span. 
Indeed  worry  would  directly  tend  to  shorten  it.     The 


COUNT  ON  GOD  WITHOUT  WORRY        51 

main  cure  for  worry,  however,  is  the  strong  assurance 
that  God  is  profoundly  interested  in  a  man's  life.  The 
fact  that  God  has  given  so  wonderful  a  thing  as  life  is 
a  guarantee  that  he  will  make  it  possible  to  get  food 
enough  to  sustain  life.  The  fact  that  he  has  devised 
so  wonderful  a  thing  as  the  human  body  makes  it  certain 
that  he  will  provide  a  chance  to  get  the  simple  clothing 
necessary  to  protect  it.  All  the  arrangements  of  nature 
are  made  with  reference  to  providing  a  man  with  work 
enough  to  give  him  ample  support.  The  birds  that  fill 
the  air  with  song  hop  busily  about,  searching  for  food, 
and  find  that  nature  provides  it.  The  plant  finds  in 
soil,  air,  rain,  and  sunshine  what  it  needs  to  appropriate 
in  order  to  be  beautifully  clothed.  So  God  has  put  man 
in  surroundings  which  reward  his  work  with  ample 
support  for  him  and  his  family.  If  he  fails  of  such 
support  it  is  generally  because  he  or  someone  else  has 
not  been  right-minded,  has  not  had  in  his  soul  the 
friendly  "righteousness"  which  is  to  prevail  in  the  New 
Age.  Some  man  has  been  too  lazy  to  work,  or  there 
has  been  some  dastardly  conspiracy  to  "corner"  the 
market,  or  unjust  industrial  conditions  have  put  men 
who  are  willing  to  work  at  a  cruel  disadvantage. 

Jesus,  with  the  strong  soul  of  a  devout  workman,  felt 
absolutely  sure  from  his  profound  experience  that  God, 
the  Heavenly  Father,  was  close  to  the  life  of  men, 
affording  such  ample  resources  for  life  as  made  worry 
a  folly  and  a  sin. 

2.  Jesus  taught  that  the  cause  of  worry  was  a  lack 
of  "faith."  "O  ye  of  little  faith,"  he  said  to  the  wor- 
riers (v.  30).  "Faith"  is  not  inaction.  On  the  contrary, 
it  is  a  form  of  enthusiastic  activity  that  calls  into  whok- 


52  ABOUT  JESUS 

some  exercise  a  man's  whole  being.  It  is  the  reaching 
out  of  the  soul  of  a  man  to  work  with  the  unseen  energy 
of  the  Heavenly  Father,  in  good  will  and  to  the  utmost. 
That  which  draws  it  out  is  the  rational  conviction  that 
the  kindly  Fatherly  energy  of  God  is  all  about  human 
life,  ready  to  work  with  it  at  every  point.  Even  men 
who  seem  to  themselves  unable  to  believe  in  a  Heavenly 
Father,  believe  in  a  reliable,  responsive  energy  on  every 
side,  man's  growing  experience  with  which  makes  him 
enthusiastic  in  all  forms  of  scientific  research.  Jesus 
has  brought  unspeakable  uplift  to  the  life  of  man  by 
the  enthusiastic  assurance,  born  of  experience,  with 
which  he  asserted  that  this  energy  is  personal  and 
kindly,  a  Heavenly  Father.  It  is  a  Heavenly  Father 
who  knows  that  men  "have  need  of  all  these  things"  and 
who  has  made  "these  things"  to  be  abundant  as  soon  as 
men  "seek  first  the  Kingdom  of  God" — that  is,  seek  to 
make  honesty  and  friendliness  universal  and  secure  in 
the  world's  life. 

On  the  basis  of  his  own  experience  he  challenges  all 
other  men  to  count  on  the  presence  of  God  and  see  if 
their  experience  does  not  justify  the  experiment:  "Seek, 
and  you  shall  find.  Knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto 
you." 

3.  The  passage  that  we  are  studying  protests  against 
worrying  about  food  and  clothing,  but  its  statements 
apply  equally  well  to  worrying  about  the  end  of  life 
itself.  The  point  it  makes  is  that  on  every  side  of  us 
there  is  life,  the  life  of  the  Heavenly  Father,  and  provi- 
sion for  maintaining  life.  We  live  in  the  midst  of 
unseen  life.  So  if  what  is  called  death  should  suddenly 
confront  us,  jt  would  be  simply  an  incident  in  enlarging 


COUNT  ON  GOD  WITHOUT  WORRY        53 

life.     One  who  knows  the  Heavenly   Father  need  not 
worry   even   about   this. 

Questions  : 

What  is  a  suitable  definition  of  the  word  "anxious" 
in  V.  25  ?  Would  a  good  football  coach  wish  his  team 
to  be  "anxious"  the  day  and  night  before  the  game? 
If  not,  why  not?  If  not,  how  would  he  try  to  prevent 
anxiety? 

What  can  a  man  do  during  the  uneventful  periods  of 
life  to  forestall  anxiety  in  the  face  of  an  emergency? 

Have  you  a  philosophy  of  life  which  eliminates 
"worry"?     If  so,  what  is  it? 

And  so  beside  the  Silent  Sea 

I  wait  the  muffled  oar ; 
No  harm  from  Him  can  come  to  me 

On  ocean  or  on  shore. 

I  know  not  where  His  islands  lift 

Their  f  ronded  palms  in  air ; 
I  only  know  I  cannot  drift 

Beyonti  His  love  and  care. 

— Whittier,  "'The  Eternal  Goodness." 


STUDY    X 

POSSESSING  AN  ABUNDANCE  OF 

THINGS  DOES  NOT  CONSTITUTE 

PREPARATION  FOR  THE 

NEW  AGE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Mark  10 :  17-31  4.  II  Corinthians  8 

2.  Luke  18:18-30  5.  II  Corinthians  9 

3.  Luke  16:  19-31  6.  James  2:  1-9 

7.  James  4 :  13—5  :  6 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Luke  12:  13.  And  one  out  of  the  multitude  said 
unto  him,  Master,  bid  my  brother  divide  the  in- 
heritance with  me.  14.  But  he  said  unto  him,  Man, 
who  made  me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you?  15. 
And  he  said  unto  them,  Take  heed,  and  keep  your- 
selves from  all  covetousness:  for  a  man's  life  con- 
sisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  which 
he  possesseth.  16.  And  he  spake  a  parable  unto 
them,  saying,  The  ground  .of  a  certain  rich  man 
brought  forth  plentifully:  17.  and  he  reasoned  within 
himself,  saying.  What  shall  I  do,  because  I  have  not 
where  to  bestow  my  fruits?  18.  And  he  said.  This 
will  I  do:  I  will  pull  down  my  barns,  and  build 
greater;  and  there  will  I  bestow  all  my  corn  and  my 
goods.     19.  And  I  will  say  to  my  soul,   Soul,  thou 

54 


POSSESSION  IS  NOT  PREPARATION       55 

hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years;  take  thine 
ease,  eat,  drink,  be  merry.  20.  But  God  said*  unto 
him,  Thou  foolish  one,  this  night  is  thy  soul  required 
of  thee;  and  the  things  which  thou  hast  prepared, 
whose  shall  they  be?  21.  So  is  he  that  layeth  up 
treasure  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich  toward  God. 

I.  In  the  last  Study  Jesus  discussed  those  who  were 
hurting  their  chances  of  finding  a  place  in  the  activities 
of  the  New  Age  by  worrying  over  the  possible  lack  of 
food  and  clothing.  In  this  Study  a  man  appears  who 
was  in  the  satne  peril  because  of  the  great  abundance 
of  the  things  that  he  possessed.  Jesus  sketched  his  por- 
trait in  answer  to  a  typical  voice  that  shouted  to  him 
from  the  crowd:  "Make  my  brother  divide!"  (v.  13). 
Jesus  saw  in  the  request  an  expression  of  "covetous- 
ness,"  that  is,  of  a  strong  desire  to  get  things  for  one's 
self  alone.  In  refusing  the  man's  request  Jesus  assured 
him  that  a  man's  real  life,  the  life  that  lasts,  does  not 
consist  in  owning  a  large  number  of  things.  Then  he 
pictured  a  man  who  m.ade  the  colossal  blunder  of  fail- 
ing to  see  this  fact. 

The  man  came  honestly  by  his  large  property.  He 
was  rich  to  start  with,  probably  because  of  inheriting 
a  fortune  as  Jesus'  questioner  had  hoped  to  do.  After 
that  the  natural  product  of  his  land  made  him  always 
richer. 

Then  came  the  crisis  in  his  life  when  he  was  compelled 
to  say :  "What  shall  I  do?"  The  answer  to  that  question 
was  to  determine  his  future.  It  is  a  question  that  has 
come  to  some  men  in  these  days  when  war  conditions 
have  suddenly  made  them  much  richer  than  they  have 
ever  been  before. 


56  ABOUT  JESUS^ 

Th^  man's  decision  was  to  hoard,  but  not  in  any 
miserly  way.  After  he  had  provided  for  the  proper 
housing  of  all  his  possessions,  he  said  to  himself  :  "Take 
it  easy ;  eat  expensive  food ;  drink  good  wines ;  have  a 
good  time.  You  have  a  long  life  before  you."  The 
prospect  looked  attractive — big  barns,  great  crops,  many 
years  ahead !  This  Syrian  farmer  was  held  in  high 
esteem  by  his  neighbors.  Fathers  pointed  him  out  to 
their  sons  as  a  "successful  man." 

But  God  came  to  him  in  a  wakeful  hour  of  the  night 
and  summoned  his  soul  to  step  out  from  the  midst  of 
all  this  abundance  of  things.  How  much  of  a  "soul" 
would  he  be  able  to  show  when  separated  from  his 
"things" — when  there  would  be  nothing  to  look  at  but 
this  man  hiuisclf?  Then  God  called  him  by  a  name  that 
would  have  shocked  the  man's  admiring  fellow-citizens. 
The  man's  own  conscience  pronounced  the  verdict: 
"Fool."  He  had  fooled  with  his  great  life  chance.  Now 
he  was  separated  from  his  things  over  which  his  heirs 
would  quarrel,  as  Jesus'  would-be  client  and  his-  brother 
had  done.  The  man  of  many  "things"  and  meager 
"soul"  was  a  spiritual  bankrupt.  He  had  nothing  ready 
for  investment  in  the  great  enterprises  of  the  spiritual 
world.  His  underfed  anemic  soul  was  utterly  weak  in 
the  presence  of  the  great  enterprises  of  the  vast  Unseen 
World  that  is  always  all  about  us,  throbbing  with  the 
will  of  God  and  calling  for  strong  men  to  go  on  great 
campaigns  in  the  growing  universe  of  God.  He  had 
ignored  two  great  facts,  the  Living  God  and  the  Long 
Future. 

2.  How  should  he  have  been  spending  his  life  in  order 
to  be  read}^  for  the  Great  Chance?     The  picture  of  the 


POSSESSION  IS  NOT  PREPARATION       57 

humane  Samaritan  in  Study  VIII  gives  the  answer. 
Instead  of  feasting  at  his  table  he  ought  to  have  been 
out  on  the  great  highways  of  life,  at  the  danger  spots, 
looking  for  chances  to  use  his  increasing  fortune  in 
friendly,  neighborly  ways.  The  demand  in  the  New 
Age  is  for  friendly  men,  for  men  who  have  so  developed 
the  friendly  spirit  as  to  be  fit  for  great  enterprises  in 
the  Civilization  of  Friendly  Men.  It  is  a  significant 
thing  that  in  the  picture  of  this  Syrian  farm  no  neigh- 
bor appears.  When  the  farmer  talks,  he  talks  to  himself. 
Jesus'  criticism  of  him  is  not  that  he  ought  not  to 
have  been  rich,  but  that  he  ought  to  have  been  "rich 
toward  God."  He  ought  to  have  been  spending  him- 
self and  his  property  in  working  at  points  of  human 
need,  together  with  the  God  who  gave  him  abundant 
crops. 

Read  the  Passage  for  Study  again,  trying  to  see  the 
picture  painted  in  each  sentence. 

Questions  : 

If  a  man's  life  does  not  consist  in  "the  abundance  of 
the  things  which  he  possesseth"  (v.  15),  why  should 
there  be  such  an  abundance  of  things  all  about  him  and 
he  be  endowed  with  so  strong  an  instinct  for  ownership  ? 

Is  such  a  situation  really  favorable  to  character- 
making?  The  answer  to  this  question  necessitates  ask- 
ing again:  What  is  right  character? 

What  is  your  definition  of  a  "fool"? 

The  great  basal  thought  of  Jesus  comes  out  here 
again;  that  the  friendly  energy  of  God  is  all  about 
us,  opening  to  its  opportunities  to  zvork  zuith  it  in  many 
zvays.     Every  hour  and  evcryzvhere  there   is  a  chance 


58  ABOUT  JESUS 

for  a  man  to  do  something  zvith  God  for  the  common 
good.  This  gives  dignity  to  otherzvise  undignified  occu- 
pations. The  thought  nerves  a  man  when  he  is  work- 
ing alone  or  when  he  has  about  reached  the  limit  of  his 
endurance.  And  in  the  hour  when  the  demand  is  made 
for  his  soul  he  goes  out  zvith  good  courage.  He  can 
"greet  the  unseen  with  a  cheer." 


STUDY    XI 

NO  LOVE  OF  PERSONAL  PARADE 

AMONG  THOSE  LOOKLNG  FOR 

THE  NEW  AGE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  18:9-14  4.  John    5:30-44 

2.  Mark  12 :  38-40  5.  John  14 :  16-24 

3.  Matthew  12:  15-21  6.  I  Corinthians  4:  1-5 

7.   Psalm   139 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Matt.  6:  i.  Take  heed  that  ye  do  not  your  right- 
eousness before  men,  to  be  seen  of  thein:  else  ye 
have  no  reward  with  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 
2.  When  therefore  thou  doest  alms,  sound  not  a 
trumpet  before  thee,  as  the  hypocrites  do  in  the 
synagogues  and  in  the  streets,  that  they  may  have 
glory  of  men.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  They  have 
received  their  reward.  3.  But  when  thou  doest 
alms,  let  not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right 
hand  doeth:  4.  that  thine  alms  may  be  in  secret: 
and  thy  Father  who  seeth  in  secret  shall  recompense 
thee.  5.  And  when  ye  pray,  ye  shall  not  be  as  the 
hypocrites:  for  they  love  to  stand  and  pray  in  the 
synagogues  and  in  the  corners  of  the  streets,  that 
they  may  be  se^  of  men.  Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
They  have  received  their  reward.  6.  But  thou,  when 
thou  prayest,   enter  into  thine  inner   chamber,   and 

59 


6o  ABOUT  JESUS 

having  shut  thy  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  who  is 
in  secret,  and  thy  Father  who  seeth  in  secret  shall 
recompense  thee.  i6.  Moreover  when  ye  fast,  be 
not,  as  the  hypocrites,  of  a  sad  countenance:  for 
they  disfigure  their  faces,  that  they  may  be  seen  of 
men  to  fast.  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  They  have 
received  their  reward.  17.  But  thou,  when  thou 
fastest,  anoint  thy  head,  and  wash  thy  face;  18.  that 
thou  be  not  seen  of  men  to  fast,  but  of  thy  Father 
which  is  in  secret:  and  thy  Father,  which  seeth  in 
secret,  shall  recompense  thee. 

1.  Jesus  gives  a  solemn  warning,  hangs  out  a  danger 
signal  over  a  perilous  place  in  the  great  highway  of 
life :  "Take  heed !"  The  peril  is  that  men  will  be  con- 
cerned exclusively  about  reputation,  and  not  at  all 
about  character..  They  will  be  eager  to  have  what  they 
do  reported  and  photographed  for  the  newspiapers  and 
will  not  think  about  the  Unseen  God  in  connection  with 
it.  This  disposition  is  peculiarly  offensive  in  the  case  of 
actions  ordinarily  regarded  as  religious,  but  it  appears 
also  in  the  case'  of  those  who  are  anxious  to  impress 
men  with  the  fact  that  they  are  not  religious.  It  is  just 
as  possible  to  try  to  parade  badness  as  goodness. 

2.  Jesus,  perhaps  with  a  mild  sarcasm,  uses  the  com- 
mercial word  ordinarily  employed  in  receipting  a  bill. 
The  man  who  gave  his  money  (v.  2)  in  order  to  be  pub- 
lished as  a  benevolent  man  can  sign  a  receipt.  He  has 
received  the  publicity  that  he  paid  for.  The  bill  is 
settled ! 

After  the  general  principle  has  been  stated  in  v.  i. 
three  forms  of  action  very  common  ih  the  religious  life 
of  the  day  are  specified :  alms-giving,  prayer,  and  fast- 
ing.    Men  were  likely  to  give  their  money  in  ways  that 


NO  LOVE  OF  PERSONAL  PARADE         6i 

would  attract  public  attention  and  that  might  be  de- 
scribed as  "trumpeting"  the  matter  abroad.  They  might 
arrange  to  have  the  regular  prayer  hour  overtake 
them  on  a  busy  street  corner  or  among  the  group  of 
people  whiling  away  the  time  about  the  synagogue.  On 
Mondays  and  Thursdays,  when  the  specially  devout 
fasted,  they  would  give  their  faces  some  artificial  treat- 
ment that  would  heighten  the  natural  effect  of  absti- 
nence from  food. 

Jesus  called  these  persons  "hypocrites."  The  word 
in  Greek  was  the  name  given  to  actors  who  played  a 
part  on  the  stage,  and  who  of  course  were  not  really 
the  persons  they  seemed  to  be. 

3.  The  big  thing  that  men  missed  by  such  conduct, 
the  missing  of  which  made  a  tragedy  of  life,  was  the 
reward  from  the  Heavenly  Father.  This  reward  is 
something  secret  in  the  inner  life  of  a  man.  That  there 
could  be  any  real  satisfaction  without  being  seen  by 
others,  seemed  impossible  to  some  scribes  who  copied 
the  Greek  manuscripts  and  so  they  added  the  word 
"openly,"— "will  reward  thee  openly,"— but  this  word 
which  used  to  appear  in  the  text  has  properly  disap- 
peared from  it.  The  secret  reward  seems  to  be  the  sense 
within  the  soul  of  having  done  right,  of  having  been 
pleasing  to  the  Heavenly  Father,  of  being  in  accord 
with  the  kindly  power  that  is  the  source  of  all  true 
life.  That  is,  it  is  the  sense  of  being  normal  in  the  most 
fundamental  relations  of  life.  There  is  a  quiet  peaceful 
sense  of  health,  with  no  uncomfortable  desire  to  be 
noticed,  no  nervous  fear  of  not  being  sufficiently  appre- 
ciated. 

This  health  of  soul   is  essential  to  good  team  work. 


62  ABOUT  JESUS 

A  man  with  this  disposition  can  engage  in  self-forget- 
ful team  work  without  losing  his  individuality,  rather 
with  enlargement  of  his  individual  personality.  When 
men  go  forward  in  the  mass  in  a  charge  in  which  a 
man  is  not  distinguished  from  his  neighbor,  there  is 
a  Power  that  individualizes  them,  that  sees  the  heart 
and  feelings  of  each  man  in  a  little  world  of  his  own. 
This  Power  is  God  and  the  inner  world  that  seems  so 
small  and  so  individual  turns  out  to  be  the  vast  unseen 
world  where  all  individuals  grow  great  in  perfect  team 
work. 

4.  If  a  man  finds  his  sense  of  God  growing  dim, 
Jesus'  teaching  here  shows  how  to  strengthen  it.  He 
must  do  some  things  intended  for  God's  eye  only. 
Perhaps  he  will  have  a  chance  to  help  some  person  by 
a  gift  of  money  in  such  a  way  that  neither  the  person 
who  receives  it  nor  anyone  else  except  God  will  know 
where  the  gift  comes  from.  The  giver  will  naturally 
feel  satisfaction  in  the  thought  that  some  one  in  a  tight 
place  has  been  helped  out  and  he  will  also  feel  that 
God  shares  his  satisfaction.  This  sense  of  companion- 
ship with  God  in  feeling  satisfaction  over  another's  good 
fortune  strengthens  faith  in  God.  Two  men  who  unite 
in  some  secret  benefaction  are  drawn  closely  together. 
In  doing  something  for  God's  eye  only,  a  man  is  acting 
as  if  there  was  a  God.  Such  action  toward  unseen 
reality  always  in  time  strengthens  faith  in  the  Unseen 
when  the  Unseen  is  real. 

In  the  same  way  let  a  man  shut  the  inner  door  of  his 
heart  and  pray,  or  if  he  has  a  chance  to  do  so,  let  him 
go  to  a  place  where  for  a  few  moments  at  least  he  can 
be  free  from  disturbance  and  speak  out  to  God  the  most 


NO  LOVE  OF  PERSONAL  PARADE         63 

honest  desire  of  his  heart.     If  he  does  this  often,  the 
sense  of  God  will  gradually  grow  stronger  within  him. 

5.  This  emphasis  on  giving  and  praying  when  no  other 
human  heing  knows  it  does  not,  of  course,  absolutely 
exclude  other  kinds  of  giving  and  praying.  It  often 
builds  up  friendship  to  let  a  man  know  that  he  can 
call  on  his  friend  for  help  if  he  needs  to  do  so.  It  is 
a  good  thing  to  join  openly  with  other  men  in  giving 
to  some  form  of  relief  work  that  interests  them  all. 
Such  open  giving  is  sometimes  the  only  way  of  endors- 
ing a  good  cause.  Great  good  is  accomplished  by  join- 
ing devoutly  with  others  in  common  prayer  and  public 
worship.  Jesus'  protest  is  simply  against  the  spirit  of 
ambitious  parade  that  'loves  to  be  seen  of  men." 

Questions  : 

Is  it  practicable  for  a  man  to  live  a  kind  of  double 
life,  an  individual  inner  life  with  God  and  a  social  life 
keenly  interested  in  everything  that  goes  on  without? 
How  shall  he  iDiify  these  two  lives — since  it  is  only  the 
unified  life  that  is  strong  and  peaceful? 

This  calls  up  the  question  to  which  we  are  always 
giving  an  incomplete  but  enlarging  answer:  What  is 
God  and  wheie  is  he?  What  have  you  found  to  be  the 
best  ways  of  deepening  your  sense  of  the  reality  and 
nearness  of  God? 

Counting  on  the  presence  and  approval  of  the  Un- 
seen God  for  the  most  profound  satisfaction  of  life,  for 
the  great  reward  of  life,  is  the  venture  that  constitutes 
a  man  truly  religious.  As  Donald  Hankey  in  "A  Stu- 
dent hi  Arms"  said:  "True  religion  is  betting  one's 
life  that  there  is  a  God" 


STUDY    XII 

THOSE  PREPARING  FOR  THE  NEW  AGE 

WILL  NOT  BITTERLY  CONDEMN 

OTHERS,  BUT  WILL  PRAY 

FOR  THEM 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  6 :  37-41  4.  James  3  :  1-12 

2.  Luke  11:9-13  5-  James  5:  13-18 

3.  Matthew  7:  13-23  6.  Romans  14:  1-12 

7.  Romans  14:13-23 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Matt.  7:  I.  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged.  2. 
For  with  what  judgment  ye  judge,  ye  shall  be 
judged:  and  with  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be 
measured  unto  you.  3.  And  why  beholdest  thou  the 
mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's  eye,  but  considerest 
not  the  beam  that  is  in  thine  own  eye?  4.  Or  how 
wilt  thou  say  to  thy  brother,  Let  me  cast  out  the 
mote  out  of  thine  eye;  and  lo,  the  beam  is  in  thine 
own  eye?  5.  Thou  hypocrite,  cast  out  first  the  beam 
out  of  thine  own  eye;  and  then  shalt  thou  see  clearly 
to  cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thy  brother's  eye. 

7.  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you;  seek,  and  ye  shall 
find;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you:  8. 
for  every  one  that  asketh  receiveth;  and  he  that 
seeketh  findeth;  and  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall 
be  opened.  9.  Or  what  man  is  there  of  you,  who,  if  his 

64 


PRAYER,  KOr  CONDEMNATION  65 

son  shall  ask  him  for  a  loaf,  will  give  him  a  stone; 
10.  or  if  he  shall  ask  for  a  fish,  will  give  him  a 
serpent?  11.  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to 
give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more 
shall  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  give  good  things 
to  them  that  ask  him?  12.  All  things  therefore  what- 
soever ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  even 
so  do  ye  also  unto  them:  for  this  is  the  law  and 
the  prophets. 

Luke  11:  5.  And  he  said  unto  them,  which  of  you 
shall  have  a  friend,  and  shall  go  unto  him  at  mid- 
night, and  say  to  him,  Friend,  lend  me  three  loaves; 
6.  for  a  friend  of  mine  is  come  to  me  from  a  journey, 
and  I  have  nothing  to  set  before  him;  7.  and  he 
from  within  shall  ansv/er  and  say.  Trouble  me  not: 
the  door  is  now  shut,  and  my  children  are  with  me 
in  bed;  I  cannot  rise  and  give  thee?  8.  I  say  unto 
you.  Though  he  will  not  rise  and  give  him,  because 
he  is  his  friend,  yet  because  of  his  importunity  he 
will  arise  and  give  him  as  many  as  he  needeth. 

Mark  11:  25.  And  whensoever  ye  stand  praying, 
forgive,  if  ye  have  aught  against  any  one;  that  your 
Father  also  which  is  in  heaven  may  forgive  you  your 
trespasses. 

I.  Jesus  recognized  the  instinct  of  the  human  heart 
to  see  and  point  out  to  an  interested  audience  whatever 
is  wrong  in  another.  Oftentimes  this  instinct  is  com- 
bined with  an  excessive  optimism  in  one's  judgment  of 
himself.  This  combination  appealed  to  Jesus'  sense  of 
humor.  As  will  be  seen  later,  he  had  been  the  victim 
of  a  good  deal  of  such  criticism  from  the  religious 
leaders  of  his  day. 

Here,  as  at  all  other  points  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 
it  is  the  motive  behind  the  act  that  determines  its  moral 


(^  ABOUT  JESUS 

character.  It  is  not  always  a  kindness  to  a  person  to 
ignore  his  faults.  He  may  very  much  need  helpful 
suggestion,  but  it  is  to  be  friendly  and  not  censorious 
suggestion.  The  friendly  critic  needs  to  be  sure  of  three 
things :  that  he  has  given  generous  attention  to  all  the 
good  points  in  the  person  criticised ;  that  he  has  thought 
long  and  faithfully  of  his  own  weak  points;  that  his 
purpose  in  noting  the  other's  faults  is  not  to  arouse 
sentiment  against  him,  but  to  help  him  overcome  them. 
In  almost  all  cases,  therefore,  he  will  speak  of  these 
faults  not  to  others,  but  privately  to  the  person  him- 
self. Also,  it  will  often  be  possible  to  make  the  neces- 
sary suggestion  in  some  indirect  tactful  way  that  will 
not  be  an  evident  criticism. 

2.  There  is  some  logical  connection  between  criti- 
cism and  prayer.  No  man  can  properly  criticise  who 
has  not  first  prayed  both  for  himself  and  for  the  object 
of  his  criticism. 

For  Jesus,  who  found  God  to  be  a  Heavenly  Father 
always  near  at  hand,  prayer  was  inevitable.  It  was  the 
natural  speaking  of  a  child  to  his  Father.  If  our  defini- 
tion of  faith — as  the  reaching  out  of  the  soul  to  work 
with  the  unseen  energy  of  God  in  good  will  and  to  the 
utmost — is  correct,  then  prayer  is  involved  in  faith.  It 
is  a  way  of  reaching  out  to  work  together  with  God,  a 
lifting  up  of  the  life  to  him. 

The  democracy  of  Jesus  is  evident  in  his  teaching 
about  prayer.  Prayer  is  not  a  means  of  getting  some- 
thing for  one's  self  alone.  It  always  includes  others. 
Selfish  prayer  would  be  pagan  prayer,  not  Christian 
prayer.  If  Christian  prayer  sometimes  at  first  seems  to 
be  for  one's  self  alone,  second  thought  shows  that  it  is 


PRAYER,  NOT  CONDEMNATION  67 

only  to  make  one's  self  more  effective  in  the  community- 
life.  Note  the  word  "therefore"  in  v.  12.  The  only  one 
who  can  pray  well  is  the  one  who  is  living  properly  in 
the  community,  treating  every  other  man  in  the  com- 
munity as  he  would  feel  that  tlie  other  man  ought  to 
treat  him  if  their  situations  were  reversed.  Especially 
he  must  be  ready  to  forgive  anyone  who  has  done  him 
wrong. 

This  idea  comes  out  still  more  clearly  in  the  homely 
illustration  that  appears  in  Luke.  Read  again  vs.  5-8. 
There  prayer  expressly  appears  to  be  a  means  of  get- 
ting something  from  the  friendly  God  to  share  with  a 
human  friend-  in  need.  "Friend,  lend  me  three  loaves, 
for  a  friend  of  mine  is  come  to  me  from  a  journey,  and 
I  have  nothing  to  set  before  him."  Such  an  interchange 
of  friendly  neighborly  feeling  binds  the  two  men  to- 
gether and  both  of  them  together  to  God.  It  Is  some- 
thing which,  when  repeated  in  a  multitude  of  instances, 
will  make  friendship  universal  and  secure  in  the  human 
race,  and  this  is  really  what  the  Kingdom  of  God,  or 
the  New  Age,  means. 

The  assumption  on  which  Jesus'  teaching  about  prayer 
rests  is  that  God  and  men  are  so  closely  related  that 
something  can  pass  from  the  friendly  God  to  the  pray- 
ing man.  What  is  it  that  comes  to  the  praying  man 
from  the  listening,  answering  God?  Thought  and  feel- 
ing. Since  God  presumably  can,  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  mental  action,  do  what  men  are  constantly  doing 
for  each  other,  namely,  put  a  thought  into  a  man's 
mind  or  a  feeling  into  his  heart,  provision  is  in  this 
way  made  for  answer  to  most  of  the  prayers  a  man  ever 
has  occasion  to  make.    • 


68  ABOUT  JESUS 

Your  friend  comes  to  you  utterly  discouraged  and 
asks  for  help.  What  can  you  do  for  him?  The  best 
thing  you  can  do  for  him  is  to  put  a  feeling  of  cour- 
age, hope,  resolution  into  him.  Where  shall  you  get 
it?  Silently  and  swiftly  ask  God  for  it.  Let  God  give 
it  to  you  to  share  with  him.  Or  your  friend  comes  to 
you  in  great  perplexity.  The  success  or  failure  of  an 
important  enterprise  depends  upon  the  decision  he 
must  make.  He  needs  your  advice.  Silently  ask  God 
to  put  a  thought  into  your  mind,  and  share  with  your 
friend  the  best  thought  God  gives  you.  Why  does  not 
God  give  the  thought  directly  to  the  man  in  need? 
Doubtless  he  often  does.  But  he  often  does  it  indirectly 
through  a  praying  man,  because  such  a  process,  as  has 
been  said,  directly  and  vitally  contributes  to  universal 
friendship.  It  is  good  for  men  to  help  each  other  in 
their  need  and  to  have  their  relationship  to  each  other 
during  the  process  all  alive  with  the  presence  of  God, 
as  it  is  in  prayer. 

Questions: 

On  the  supposition  that  there  really  is  a  Friendly 
Unseen  Power  all  about  us,  whose  relation  to  us  is  that 
of  a  Father  to  children,  to  what  extent  might  he  be 
expected  to  help  us? 

That  is,  how  much  would  a  father  do  for  his  children 
and  how  much  would  he  leave  them  to  do  for  them- 
selves ? 

In  what  circumstances  and  under  what  conditions 
would  he  help  them? 

What  sort  of  things  would  he  be  most  likely  to  do 
for  them? 


PRAYER,  NOT  CONDEMNATION  69 

"More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 
Than  this  world  dreams  of.     Wherefore,  let  thy  voice 
Rise  like  a  fountain  for  me  night  and  day. 
For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats 
That  nourish  a  blind  life  within  the  brain, 
If,  knowing  God,  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer 
Both  for  themselves  and  those  who  call  them  friend? 
For  so  the  whole  round  earth  is  every  way 
Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God." 

— Tennyson,  "The  Passing  of  Arthur." 


PART  III:  JESUS,  THE  PEOPLE'S  PROPHET, 
AROUSES  THE  HOSTILITY  OF  THE  RELI- 
GIOUS AUTHORITIES  BY  HIS  TEACHING  RE- 
GARDING THE  LIFE  OF  THE  NEW  AGE  AND 
THE  WAY  TO  PREPARE  FOR  IT 


STUDY    XIII 

THE  SCRIBES  SUSPICIOUS  OF  JESUS' 
TEACHING  ABOUT  THE  FOR- 
GIVENESS OF  SIN    . 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Matthew  9:  1-8  4.  Romans  8:31-39 

2.  Luke  5 :  17-26  5.  I  John  i  :  5-10 

3.  Matthew  18:  15-20  6.  I  John  2:  1-7 

7.  Psalm  32 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Mark  2:  i.  And  when  he  entered  again  into  Caper- 
naum  after  some  days,  it  was  noised  that  he  was^ 
in  the  house.  2.  And  many  were  gathered  together, 
so  that  there  was  no  longer  room  for  them,  no, 
not  even  about  the  door:  and  he  spake  the  word 
unto  them.  3.  And  they  come,  bringing  unto  him  a 
man  sick  with  the  palsy,  borne  of  four.  4.  And 
when  they  could  not  come  nigh  unto  him  for  ths 
crowd,  they  uncovered  the  roof  where  he  was:  and 
when  they  had  broken  it  up,  they  let  down  the  bed 
whereon  the  sick  of  the  palsy  lay.  5.  And  Jesus 
seeing  their  faith  saith  unto  the  sick  of  the  palsy, 
Son,  thy  sins  are  forgiven.  6.  But  there  were  cer- 
tain of  the  scribes  sitting  there,  and  reasoning  in 
their  hearts,  7.  Why  doth  this  man  thus  speak?  he 
blasphemeth:   who   can   forgive   sins  but   one,   even 


74  ABOUT  JESUS 

God?  8.  And  straightway  Jesus,  perceiving  in  his 
spirit  that  they  so  reasoned  within  themselves,  saith 
unto  them,  Why  reason  ye  these  things  in  your 
hearts?  9.  Whether  is  easier,  to  say  to  the  sick  of 
the  palsy,  Thy  sins  are  forgiven;  or  to  say.  Arise, 
and  take  up  thy  bed,  and  walk?  10.  But  that  ye 
may  know  that  the  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth 
to  forgive  sins  (he  saith  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy), 
II.  I  say  unto  thee.  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and  go 
unto  thy  house.  12.  And  he  arose,  and  straightway 
took  up  the  bed,  and  went  forth  before  them  all; 
insomuch  that  they  were  all  amazed,  and  glorified 
God. 

I,  In  a  series  of  incidents  Mark's  Gospel  (2:  i — 3:6, 
3:  22-30;  7:  1-24)  traces  the  growing  hostility  of  the 
religious  teachers,  the  Scribes,  to  Jesus  and  his  ideas 
about  religion.  Jesus  was  in  entire  sympathy  with  many 
of  the  ideas  of  the  best  of  the  Scribes,  but  he  attacked 
certain  serious  abuses  that  had  grown  up  in  their  teach- 
ing and  practice.  Some  of  the  Scribes  doubtless  disap- 
proved of  these  abuses,  but  they  were  not  influential 
enough  at  this  time  to  reform  them. 

In  the  first  scene  presented  by  Mark,  the  Scribes  are 
represented  as  suspicious  of  Jesus,  though  they  do  not 
go  so  far  as  to  express  their  suspicions  openly  (v.  6). 
They  had  gathered  from  many  quarters  to  hear  for 
themselves  the  teaching  of  the  Prophet  who  had  become 
so  popular  (second  supplementary  reading).  Probably 
they  had  hoped  to  be  able  to  utilize  his  influence  over 
the  people  for  the  propagation  of  their  own  ideas. 

The  scene  is  one  in  which  a  helpless  man,  carried  by 
four  good  friends,  was  brought  to  Jesus  with  the  expec- 
tation   that   Jesus    would    be    able    to    cure    him.      The 


SUSPICIOUS  01'  FORGIVENESS  75 

man's  condition  was  probably  thought  by  many,  includ- 
ing perhaps  the  man  himself,  to  be  due  to  sins  he  had 
committed.  That  which  aroused  the  serious  suspicion  of 
the  Scribes  was  the  way  in  which  Jesus  handled  the 
question  of  the  man's  sins.  As  Jesus  looked  into  his 
eager  face  and  up  at  the  four  men  who  had  lowered 
him  on  his  sleeping  rug  through  an  opening  they  had 
made  in  the  easily  movable  material  of  the  roof,  he  at 
once  spoke  to  him  about  the  sins  that  had  so  troubled 
his  conscience.  He  told  him  that  God  had  forgiven  them. 
Forgiveness  by  God  implies  three  things :  a  wrong  done ; 
the  wrong  regretted,  discontinued,  made  right  if  pos- 
sible; then,  on  the  part  of  God  the  Heavenly  Father,  a 
change  from  disapproving  to  approving  love.  The  love 
of  a  true  father  never  ceases,  but  in  forgiveness  it 
changes  from  a  love  that  necessarily  disapproves  to  a 
love  that  approves. 

2.  The  Scribes  were  disturbed  because  Jesus  seemed 
to  ignore  the  necessity  that  the  man  should  do  some 
"good  works"  to  compensate  for  his  sins.  To  many  of 
them  God  was  a  Book-keeper,  who  charged  up  against 
a  man  all  of  his  disobediences  to  particular  command- 
ments in  the  Holy  Law  and  credited  him  with  his  obe- 
diences.  If  his  credits  for  obediences  exceeded  his 
debits  for  disobediences,  he  was  "righteous."  To  Jesus 
God  was  not  an  omniscient  Book-keeper,  but  a  Heavenly 
Father  who  freely  forgave  his  penitent  children,  one 
who  would  not  "despise"  a  broken  and  a  "contrite" 
heart.  This  helpless  paralytic,  probably  poor  because 
he  could  no  longer  work,  had  no  chance  to  do  the  right- 
eous acts  or  give  the  alms  that  some  of  the  Scribes 
would  have  specified. 


y^i  ABOUT  JESUS 

How  should  this  young  prophet  Jesus,  untrained  in  the 
rabbinic  schools,  assume  to  have  more  knowledge  about 
this  man's  religious  prospects,  than  religious  specialists 
like  themselves ! 

3.  Certain  things  about  Jesus'  own  inner  conscious- 
ness appear  here.  He  seemed  to  have  an  insight  into 
the  helpless  man's  soul  which  enabled  him  to  see  that 
the  man  had  repented.  He  seemed  also  to  feel  the  for- 
giving love  of  God,  rising  up  within  him  and  flowing 
out  to  this  penitent  man. 

Jesus'  strong  inner  consciousness  of  authority  from 
God  to  declare  this  man  forgiven  found  corroboration 
in  what  he  was  enabled  by  God  to  do  for  the  man's 
body.  He  spoke  a  prayerful  word  of  power  (see  Study 
IV)  and  the  expectant  man  rolled  up  the  sleeping  rug 
on  which  he  had  been  brought  and  made  his  way 
through  the  crowd,  to  receive  the  glad  congratulations 
of  his  four  friends,  who  had  come  down  from  the 
roof  by  an  outside  stairway  and  were  waiting  in  the 
street. 

3.  That  which  instantly  attracted  Jesus'  attention 
was  the  "faith"  of  the  five  men  (v.  5).  This  faith  was 
evidently  (i)  confidence  in  Jesus'  power  to  cure  disease, 
a  confidence  based  on  evidence  afforded  by  previous 
cures ;  so  it  probably  involved  (2)  gladly  recognizing 
him  as  a  genuine  prophet  of  God  with  a  true  message 
about  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven ;  and  (3)  it  expressed 
itself  in  such  action 'as  was  appropriate  to  these  beliefs. 
That  is,  it  saw  in  Jesus  what  he  represented  himself 
to  be  and  treated  him  accordingly. 

We  saw  in  Study  HI,  and  shall  see  more  clearly  later, 
that  Jesus  during  this  period  was  not,  and  did  not  wish 


SUSPICIOUS  OF  FORGIVENESS  77 

to  be,  recognized  as  the  Messiah.  That  he  was  not  so 
recognized  here,  although  the  messianic  title  Son  of 
Man  in  common  usage  later  among  the  disciples  is 
placed  upon  his  lips,  is  made  clear  by  what  the  crowd 
said  about  him.  None  of  them  spoke  of  him  as  Messiah. 
They  "glorified  God  who  had  given  such  authority  unto 
men"    (Matthew  9:8). 

Questions  : 

What  do  you  imagine  to  have  been  the  conversation 
of  these  five  men  on  their  way  to  the  house  where  they 
expected  to  find  Jesus?  Their  conversation  on  the  way 
home? 

What  would  have  been  their  probable  relation  to  the 
Christian  movement  a  few  years  later? 

What  thoughts  would  have  been  in  Jesus'  mind  in  the 
evening  as  he  reviewed  the  events  of  the  day? 

Does  God's  forgiveness  of  sins  ever  remove  any  of 
the  consequences  of  sin? 


STUDY    XIV 

THE   SCRIBES   OFFENDED   BY  JESUS' 
FRIENDLY  APPROACH  TO  IRRE- 
LIGIOUS PEOPLE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Matthew  9:9-13  4.  John   8:2-11 

2.  Luke   5  :  2:7-32  5.  Luke  7  :  36-50 

3.  Luke  19:1-10  6.  Luke  15:11-31 

7.  Hebrews  2:  10-18  . 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Mark  2:  13.  And  he  went  forth  again  by  the  sea 
side;  and  all  the  multitude  resorted  unto  him,  and 
he  taught  them.  14.  And  as  he  passed  by,  he  saw 
Levi  the  son  of  Alphaeus  sitting  at  the  place  of  toll, 
and  he  saith  unto  him,  Follow  me.  And  he  arose 
and  followed  him.  15.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  he 
was  sitting  at  meat  in  his  house,  and  many  publicans 
and  sinners  sat  down  with  Jesus  and  his  disciples: 
for  there  were  many,  and  they  followed  him.  16. 
And  the  scribes  of  the  Pharisees,  when  they  saw 
that  he  was  eating  v/ith  the  sinners  and  publicans, 
said  unto  his  disciples.  He  eateth  and  drinketh  with 
publicans  and  sinners.  17.  And  when  Jesus  heard 
it,  he  saith  unto  them,  They  that  are  whole  have  no 
need  of  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick:  I  came 
not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners. 

I.    Another    striking    peculiarity    of    Jesus'    conduct 

75 


OFFENDED  BY  FRIENDLY  API' ROACH      79 

caused  the  Scribes  great  concern.  They  did  not  tax 
Jesus  with  it  to  his  face,  but  took  the  matter  up  with  the 
group  of  young  men  who  were  called  his  disciples  (v. 
16).  Perhaps  they  thought  that  in  this  way  they  could 
get  these  young  men  away  from  Jesus  and  so  save  them 
from  the  influence  of  his  bad  example  and  teaching. 
The  thing  that  troubled  them  was  his  friendly  approach 
to  certain  classes  in  the  community  whom  the  Scribes 
considered  to  be  utterly  irreligious.  The  Scribes  were 
concerned  to  have  all  classes  obey  the  Holy  Law  of 
Moses  in  all  its  details.  Certain  classes  in  the  com- 
munity refused  to  do  this,  and  therefore  found  them- 
selves getting  sour  looks  in  the  market  and  in  the  syn- 
agogue, if  they  cared  occasionally  to  attend  its  services. 
They  were  called  "The  Sinners."  This  was  a  popu- 
lar name  for  them  that  had  sprung  up  in  community 
usage  and  did  not  mean  exactly  what  the  word  means  in 
modern  speech.  Foreigners,  or  "Gentiles,"  since  they 
did  not  recognize  any  obligation  to  keep  the  Holy  Law, 
were  called  "sinners  of  the  Gentiles"  (Galatians  2:  15)  to 
distinguish  them  from  "sinners  of  the  Jews"  who  were 
like-minded.  One  particular  class  of  "sinners"  were  the 
"publicans,"  that  is,  those  who  did  "public"  revenue  busi- 
ness, instead  of  engaging  in  private  business  enterprises. 
The  numerous  small  Jewish  officials  who  sat  by  the 
public  road,  each  collecting  his  own  special  form  of  toll 
or  custom,  were  very  unpopular,  especially  among  reli- 
gious people  like  the  Scribes.  These  revenue  officials 
were  willing  to  help  a  foreign  power  collect  unholy 
taxes  from  God's  people;  they  necessarily  had  much 
defiling  connection  with  foreigners;  they  often  had  to 
handle  merchandise  that  to  the  sensitive  Jewish  mind 


8o  ABOUT  JESUS 

was  defiling ;  they  had  to  work  on  the  Sabbath.  Any 
Jew  willing  to  do  all  this  was  pretty  sure  to  be  a  man 
who  loved  money  more  than  he  loved  God  and  who 
would,   presumably,   cheat  whenever  he  could. 

2.  Jesus  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  one  of  these 
men  at  the  Capernaum  wharves,  and  found  him  much 
interested  in  the  message  about  the  New  Age.  Finally 
one  day  Jesus  invited  him  to  become  one  of  the  "dis- 
ciples," that  is,  one  of  the  group  of  men  who  gave  up 
most  of  their  time  to  listening  to  the  teacher's  lectures. 
Many  Scribes  had  such  groups  of  disciples.  This  man 
Levi,  or  Matthew,  at  once  sold  out,  or  resigned,  his 
position,  and  accepted  Jesus'  invitation. 

The  fact  that  a  popular  prophet,  a  religious  man  talk- 
ing everywhere  about  the  nearness  of  the  New  Age, 
should  show  such  distinguished  honor  to  a  publican, 
fairly  overwhelmed  Levi.  To  celebrate  the  event  he 
made  a  great  reception  in  his  home.  Publicans  and 
other  "sinners"  came  to  It  in  large  numbers  from  all 
over  the  city.  Jesus  and  his  disciples  were  also  present. 
Refreshments  were  served  and  they  all  ate  together. 
Such  conduct  on  the  part  of  an  ostensible  prophet 
scandalized  the  Scribes  (v.  i6).  Their  great  aim  was 
to  keep  all  decent  religious  people  away  from  such 
associations.  Eating  together  seemed  particularly 
offensive,  because  in  the  East  it  is  a  sign  of  great 
friendliness.  Furthermore,  they  v/ere  pretty  certain 
not  to  have  "kosher"  food  and  not  to  eat  it  with 
proper  ceremonies. 

3.  Jesus'  view  of  the  situation  seems  to  have  been  this. 
He  did  not  excuse  the  conduct  of  the  publicans  and 
sinners.    To  his  mind  they  were  unfit  for  the  New  Age. 


OFFENDED  BY  FRIENDLY  APPROACH     8i 

They  were  sick  people  needing  a  physician,  wounded 
men  needing  a  surgeon,  bad  people  needing  to  reform 
(v.  17).  Neither  did  he  at  all  lower  his  own  high  moral 
standards  to  accommodate  them.  If  he  had  done  so,  his 
presence  with  them  would  not  have  been  such  an  im- 
pressive and  welcome  compliment.  He  did,  however, 
differ  radically  from  the  Scribes  in  his  view  of  the 
case.  To  his  mind  the  essential  element  in  religion  was 
the  truly  friendly  heart,  the  heart  prayerfully  friendly 
in  its  uplook  to  God,  actively  friendly  in  its  outlook 
to  all  men.  He  was  sure  that  the  publicans  and  sinners 
could  be  drawn  into  the  truly  friendly  life.  He  knew 
that  the  most  effective  way  to  accomplish  this  was  to 
be  truly  friendly  to  them  in  his  own  heart  and  to  show 
his  friendliness  in  natural  ways.  He  did  not  come 
among  them  with  the  evident  purpose  of  "doing  them 
good."  He  did  not  reach  a  helping  hand  down  to  them. 
He  did  not  preach  at  them.  He  came  to  them  on  the 
level  and  because  he  saw  something  in  them  that  he 
liked.  See  a  very  striking  instance  of  this  in  the  third 
supplementary  reading  where  Jesus  went  in  to  lodge 
with  a  man  that  was  a  sinner.  The  rabbis  were  not 
good  enough  and  big  enough  in  heart  to  be  true  friends 
to  the  publicans  and  sinners.  They  had  not  enough  of 
real  religion  to  meet  the  situation.  They  differed  from 
Jesus  fundamentally  in  their  conception  of  religion. 
This  will  come  out  more  clearly  in  the  next  study. 

Questions  : 

Can  a  man  at  all  control  his  likes  and  dislikes? 
To  what  extent  can  a  man  learn  realy  to  like  another 
who  has  disagreeable  traits? 


82  ■  ABOUT  JESUS 

Is  it  possible  to  single  out  certain  good  qualities  in 
a  man  and  like  him  for  them?  Or  to  see  in  him  certain 
unrealized  possibilities  and  really  like  him  for  them? 

What  should  be  a  man's  attitude  toward  things  done 
in  his  presence  of  which  he  does  not  approve? 

How  can  a  man  living  constantly  in  association  with 
those  whose  moral  standards  seem  lower  than  his  own, 
keep  his  own  conscience  quick  and  healthy? 

"Behold  him  now  where  he  comes  ! 
Not  the  Christ  of  our  subtile  creeds, 
But  the  Lord  of  our  hearts,  of  our  homes, 
Of  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  needs; 
The  brother  of  want  and  blame, 
The  lover  of  women  and  men, 
With  a  love  that  puts  to  shame 
All  passions  of  mortal  ken." 
— Richard  Watson  Gilder,  "The  Passing  of  Christ." 


STUDY    XV 

THE  SCRIBES   OFFENDED  BY  JESUS' 
FRIENDLY  APPROACH  TO  IRRE- 
LIGIOUS PEOPLE 
(Continued) 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  15:3-7  4.  John  4 :  5-26 

2.  Luke  15:8-10  5.  John  4:27-39 

3.  Luke  14:15-24  6.  Romans  5:1-11 

7.  John  3  :  16-21 

Passages  for  Study: 

Luke  15:  I.  Now  all  the  publicans  and  sinners 
were  drawing  near  unto  him  for  to  hear  him.  2. 
And  both  the  Pharisees  and  the  scribes  murmured, 
saying,  This  man  receiveth  sinners,  and  eateth  with 
them.    II.  And  he  said,  A  certain  man  had  two  sons: 

12.  and  the  younger  of  them  said  to  his  father. 
Father,  give  me  the  portion  of  thy  substance  that 
falleth  to  me.    And  he  divided  unto  them  his  living. 

13.  And  not  many  days  after  the  younger  son  gath- 
ered all  together,  and  took  his  journey  into  a 
far  country;  and  there  he  wasted  his  substance  with 
riotous  living.  14.  And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there 
arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that  country;  and  he  began 
to  be  in  want.  15.  And  he  went  and  joined  himself 
to  one  of  the  citizens  of  that  country;  and  he  sent 

83 


84  ABOUT  JESUS 

him  into  his  fields  to  feed  swine.  i6.  And  he  would 
fain  have  been  filled  v^ith  the  husks  that  the  swine 
did  eat:  and  no  man  gave  unto  him.  17.  But  when 
he  came  to  himself  he  said,  How  many  hired  serv- 
ants of  my  father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare, 
and  I  perish  here  with  hunger!  18.  I  will  arise  and 
go  to  my  father,  and  will  say  unto  him,  Father,  I 
have  sinned  against  heaven,  and  in  thy  sight:  19. 
I  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son:  make 
me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants.  20.  And  he  arose, 
and  came  to  his  father.  But  while  he  was  yet  afar 
off,  his  father  sav/  him,  and  was  moved  with  com- 
passion, and  ran,  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed 
him.  21.  And  the  son  said  unto  him,  Father,  I  have 
sinned  against  heaven,  and  in  thy  sight:  I  am  no 
more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son.  22.  But  the 
father  said  to  his  servants,  Bring  forth  quickly  the 
best  robe,  and  put  it  on  him;  and  put  a  ring  on  his 
hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet:  23.  and  bring  the  fatted 
calf,  and  kill  it,  and  let  us  eat,  and  make  merry:  24. 
for  this  my  son  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again;  he 
was  lost,  and  is  found.  And  they  began  to  be  merry. 
25.  Now  his  elder  son  was  in  the  field:  and  as  he 
came  and  drew  nigh  to  the  house,  he  heard  music 
and  dancing.  26.  And  he  called  to  him  one  of  the 
servants,  and  inquired  what  these  things  might  be. 
27.  And  he  said  unto  him.  Thy  brother  is  come; 
and  thy  father  hath  killed  the  fatted  calf,  because 
he  hath  received  him  safe  and  sound.  28.  But  he 
was  angry,  and  would  not  go  in:  and  his  father 
came  out,  and  entreated  him.  29.  But  he  answered 
and  said  to  his  father,  Lo,  these  many  years  do  I 
serve  thee,  and  I  never  transgressed  a  command- 
ment of  thine:  and  yet  thou  never  gavest  me  a  kid, 
that  I  might  make  merry  with  my  friends:  30.  but 
when  this  thy  son  came,  which  hath  devoured  thy 


OFFENDED  BY  FRIENDLY  APPROACH      85 

living  with  harlots,  thou  killedst  for  him  the  fatted 
calf.  31.  And  he  said  unto  him,  Son,  thou  art  ever 
with  me,  and  all  that  is  mine  is  thine.  32.  But  it 
was  meet  to  make  merry  and  be  glad:  for  this  thy 
brother  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again;  and  was  lost, 
and  is  found. 

1.  The  friendly  attitude  of  Jesus  toward  certain 
classes  of  the  irreligious,  which  so  offended  the  Scribes, 
finds  its  explanation  in  his  own  religious  experience. 
In  his  inner  soul  he  felt  the  Heavenly  Father  loving 
these  men  and  women. 

By  three  illustrations  that  will  never  lose  their  place 
in  religious  literature  he  pictured  the  love  of  the 
Heavenly  Father  for  the  "lost" — "The  Lost  Sheep," 
"The  Lost  Coin,"  "The  Lost  Son."  Especially  in  the 
story  of  "The  Lost  Son"  he  showed  to  the  Scribes, 
who  criticised  him  for  eating  in  a  friendly  way  with 
publicans  and  sinners  (vs.  1-2),  how  miserably  their 
frame  of  mind  contrasted  with  the  feeling  of  the  Heav- 
enly Father.  The  culmination  of  the  story  is  in  the 
contrast  between  the  Father's  treatment  of  the  Lost 
Son  when  he  came  home  and  the  treatment  given  him 
by  the  Older  Brother  (vs.  20-32)  v/ho  represents  the 
Scribes. 

2.  The  son  is  spoken  of  as  "lost"  (v.  z^).  A  thing 
is  lost  when  it  is  out  of  the  place  where  it  belongs  and 
is  in  danger  of  not  getting  back  to  it.  A  child  is  lost 
when  it  gets  away  from,  the  persons  to  whom  it  belongs 
and  is  in  danger  of  not  getting  back.  It  does  not  neces- 
sarily get  away  from  them  in  space,  but  in  spirit  and 
sympathy.  A  son  may  live  in  the  same  village  with  his 
father  and  mother,  his  brothers  and  sisters,  but  if  he 


86  ABOUT  JESUS 

never  communicates  with  them  he  is  more  hopelessly 
"lost"  to  them  than  he  would  be  if  he  were  on  the  other 
side  of  the  globe  writing  them  loving  letters  every  week. 

Jesus  first  pictured  the  "lost"  son.  He  had  become  out 
of  sympathy  with  his  father  and  discontented  with 
home  life.  He  took  what  belonged  to  him  and  went 
far  from  home — into  another  and  a  distant  country. 
There  he  "lived  his  own  life,"  utterly  unlike  that  of 
his  old  home.  He  was  not  meant  for  that  kind  of 
life  and  it  nearly  made  a  wreck  of  him.  Two  things 
were  characteristic  of  the  later  stages  of  his  life  in 
the  far  country :  there  was  no  suitable  v/ork  there  for 
him  and  there  were  no  friends.  He  was  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  taking  care  of  hogs,  even  sharing  their 
carob  pod  fodder  with  them  (worse  than  eating  with 
publicans  and  sinners!),  and  no  friendly  man  gave  him 
anything  (v.  i6).  Then  he  remembered  who  he  was 
and  started  home. 

3.  The  greatest  fact  in  the  experience  of  Jesus  was  the 
love  of  God,  the  Heavenly  Father.  The  power  with 
which  he  pictures  the  Father  of  the  Lost  Son  is  evi- 
dence of  it.  For  many  months  the  Father  had  been 
looking  down  to  the  far  point  on  the  road  where  his 
eyes  had  caught  the  last  glimpse  of  his  boy  leaving 
home  with  his  gay  clothing  and  his  light  heart.  He 
always  expected  him  to  come  back.  When  he  did  fin- 
ally come  back,  his  Father  saw  him  "while  he  was  yet 
afar  off,"  recognized  him  in  spite  of  his  changed  ap- 
pearance, ran  down  the  road  till  he  was  out  of  breath, 
threw  his  arms  around  the  tired,  ragged,  half-starved 
boy  and  kissed  him  over  and  over  again.  When  they 
reached  the  house  he  asked  for  no  "explanations"  and 


OFFENDED  BY  FRIENDLY  APPROACH     87 

required  no  promises.  He  gave  him  everything  to  wear 
and  eat  that  had  been  saved  for  the  most  honorable 
guest  that  might  ever  visit  them.  In  his  own  inner 
rehgious  experience  Jesus  had  discovered  that  this  was 
the  way  the  Heavenly  Father  felt  over  the  lost  publi- 
cans and  sinners  who  were  daily  coming  to  themselves, 
beginning  to  pray  to  the  Heavenly  Father  and  to  look 
forward  hopefully  to  the  New  Age. 

4.  Then  the  Older  Brother  came  on  the  stage,  but 
showed  himself  to  be  no  true  brother,  no  true  son.  He 
was  thoroughly  angry  from  top  to  toe  when  he  learned 
what  was  going  on.  He  had  no  love  for  his  brother  and 
no  sympathy  with  his  Father.  This  Older  Brother, 
Jesus  said,  represented  the  Scribes.  It  is  noticeable 
that  the  Father  as  Jesus  pictured  him  still  loved  the 
Older  Brother :  "Son,  thou  art  ever  with  me,  and  all 
that  is  mine  is  thine"   (v.  31). 

This  last  stroke  in  the  picture  shows  that  though  Jesus 
was  inevitably  crowding  the  Scribes  into  a  corner,  and 
making  them  look  at  themselves  in  a  relentless  mirror, 
still  his  own  spirit  was  kindly,  and  he  was  not  respons- 
ible for  the  bitter  hostility  toward  him  that  was  de- 
veloping in  them. 

Questions  : 

What  made  the  younger  son  dissatisfied  with  his 
home  ? 

What  did  he  want  that  he  did  not  have?  That  is, 
why  does  a  man  ever  stop  praying? 

Is  there  anything  about  the  idea  of  God  that  a  man 
does  not  like?     If  so  what  is  it  and  why  is  it  not  liked? 

What  are  the  dangers  in  a  life  lived  away  from  God? 


88  ABOUT  JESUS 

Does  it  at  all  hurt  a  man  to  live  the  life  that  forgets 
God,  and  if  so  in  what  particulars? 

Why  did  his  Father  let  him  go  with  so  little  protest? 

What  evidence  is  there  that  close  up  against  the  life 
of  the  world  is  the  life  of  an  unseen  Fatherly  Being 
who  really  cares  when  a  man  or  woman  goes  wrong,  and 
who  feels  profound  satisfaction  when  they  go  right? 

This  "lost  son"  gave  his  life  back  to  his  Father  to 
whom  it  belonged  by  right  of  the  Father's  love  and  the 
laws  of  its  own  well-being.  The  Father  kneiu  hoiv  zvith 
a  wealth  of  resources  to  bring  the  life  to  health  and 
strength. 

"O  love  that  wilt  not  let  me  go, 
1  rest  my  weary  soul  in  Thee. 
I  give  Thee  back  the  life  I  owe. 
That  in  Thine  ocean  depths  its  flow 
May  richer,  fuller  be." 

^George  Matheson.     • 


STUDY    XVI 

THE  SCRIBES  SO  OFFENDED  BY  JESUS' 
USE  OF  THE  SABBATH  THAT  THEY 
ARE  READY  TO  ARREST  AND 
EXECUTE  HIM  AS  A  LAW- 
BREAKER 

Supplementary   Readings  : 

1.  Mark  2:  18-22  4.  Luke   14:1-6 

2.  Matthew  12:1-14  5.  Luke  13  :  10-17 

3.  Luke  6:  i-ii  '  6.  Deuteronomy  5:  12-15 

7.  Isaiah  56:  1-8 

Passage   for    Study : 

Mark  2:  23.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  he  was  go- 
ing on  the  sabbath  day  through  the  cornfields;  and 
his  disciples  began,  as  they  went,  to  pluck  the  ears 
of  corn.  24.  And  the  Pharisees  said  unto  him,  Be- 
hold, why  do  they  on  the  sabbath  day  that  which 
is  not  lawful?  25.  And  he  said  unto  them,  Did  ye 
never  read  what  David  did,  when  he  had  need,  and 
was  an  hungred,  he,  and  they  that  were  with  him? 

26.  How  he  entered  into  the  house  of  God  when 
Abiathar  was  high  priest,  and  did  eat  the  shew- 
bread,  which  it  is  not  lawful  to  eat  save  for  the 
priests,  and  gave  also  to  them  that  v/ere  with  him? 

27.  And  he  said  unto  them,  The  sabbath  was  made 
for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  sabbath:  28.  so  that 
the  Son  of  man  is  lord  even  of  the  sabbath, 

89 


90  ABOUT  JESUS 

Mark  3:  i.  And  he  entered  again  into  the  syna- 
gogue; and  there  was  a  man  there  which  had  his 
hand  withered.  2.  And  they  watched  him,  whether 
he  would  heal  him  on  the  sabbath  day;  that  they 
might  accuse  him.  3.  And  he  saith  unto  the  man 
that  had  his  hand  withered,  Stand  forth.  4.  And 
he  saith  unto  them,  Is  it  lawful  on  the  sabbath  day 
to  do  good,  or  to  do  harm?  to  save  a  life,  or  to  kill? 
But  they  held  their  peace.  5.  And  when  he  had 
looked  round  about  on  them  with  anger,  being 
grieved  at  the  hardening  of  their  heart,  he  saith  unto 
the  man,  Stretch  forth  thy  hand.  And  he  stretched 
it  forth:  and  his  hand  was  restored.  6.  And  the 
Pharisees  went  out,  and  straightway  with  the 
Herodians  took  counsel  against  him,  how  they  might 
destroy  him. 

I.  The  hostility  of  the  Scribes  to  Jesus  grew  steadily 
stronger.  He  had  offended  them  not  only  in  the  ways 
indicated  in  the  last  three  Studies,  but  also  by  encour- 
aging his  disciples  not  to  observe  the  Monday  and 
Thursday  fastings  (see  the  first  supplementary  read- 
ing). Something  like  a  climax  is  now  reached  because 
of  his  treatment  of  the  Sabbath. 

The  Scribes  had  long  found  it  difficult  to  keep  the 
nation  from  yielding  to  the  influence  of  pagan  reli- 
gions all  about  it.  In  their  effort  to  keep  the  nation 
separate  from  other  nations  they  had  relied  particularly 
on  special  food  laws  which  made  social  intercourse  with 
foreigners  impracticable,  on  special  scriptures  which  con- 
tained God's  Holy  Law,  and  on  a  special  Holy  Day  each 
week  when  the  people  might  be  withdrawn  from  all 
their  usual  occupations  and  be  instructed  in  the  Holy 
Law.     The  Scribes  felt  that  the  protection  of  the  Holy 


OFFENDED  BY  USE  OF  SABBATH  91 

Day  was  absolutely  essential  to  the  maintenance  of 
true  religion,  and  therefore  had  surrounded  it  with  a 
multitude  of  minute  regulations  for  conduct  in  all 
sorts  of  possible  emergencies.  They  looked  forward 
to  the  New  Age  as  a  time  when  all  the  people  would 
keep  God's  Sabbath  law  perfectly.  Therefore  when 
Jesus,  a  popular  people's  prophet  purporting  to  bring 
God's  message  about  the  New  Age  and  the  way  to 
prepare  for  it,  seemed  careless  about  Sabbath  observ- 
ance, the  situation  looked  desperate !  They  decided 
that  they  must  arrest  him  and  after  formal  trial  execute 
him  as  a  law  breaker.  In  this  efifort  they  found  it 
desirable  to  enlist  the  "Herodians"  (3:6).  It  is  not 
exactly  clear  who  the  "Herodians"  were.  Evidently 
they  were  a  party  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the 
Herod  family,  a  member  of  which  was  now  the  ruler 
of  Galilee,  and  they  therefore  represented  the  Roman 
government,  under  whom  this  family  held  office.  The 
ruling  Herod  had  recently  arrested,  and  perhaps  already 
executed,  John,  the  wilderness  prophet,  for  meddling 
with  his  domestic  immoralities.  The  fact  that  he  had 
just  attacked  so  popular  a  prophet  as  John  perhaps 
made  him  unwilling  to  proceed  now  against  another 
popular  prophet,  for  nothing  seems  to  have  come  of 
this  attempt  of  the  Scribes  to  enlist  his  party  against 
Jesus. 

The  attitude  taken  by  the  Scribes  in  3  :  6  seems,  how- 
ever, to  have  effectually  shut  Jesus  out  from  all  the 
synagogues  in  this  part  of  the  country.  In  Mark's 
Gospel  he  never  again  appears  speaking  from  a  syna- 
gogue platform  except  in  his  home  town  (6:  1-6). 

2.  Two  cases  are  cited  in  which  Jesus  seemed  to  the 


92  ABOUT  JESUS 

Scribes  scandalously  lax  in  his  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath. In  the  first  (2:23-27)  his  disciples  did  something 
on  a  Sabbath  which  Jesus  failed  to  reprove  and  later 
justified;  in  the  second  (3:1-6)  he  himself  was  the 
active  party.  As  they  were  walking  on  the  narrow  path 
that  separated  two  fields  of  wheat  or  barley  the  disciples 
pulled  ofif  some  heads  of  the  grain,  rubbed  it  out  in 
their  hands,  and  ate  it.  To  the  Scribes  this  seemed 
nothing  less  than  harvesting  and  threshing  on  a  small 
scale.  Either  on  the  spot,  or  later  when  they  heard  of 
it,  they  called  Jesus  to  account  for  not  having  imme- 
diately put  a  stop  to  it. 

In  the  other  case  a  man  whose  right  hand  had  with- 
ered up  so  that  he  could  no  longer  work  appeared  in 
the  Sabbath  synagogue  service  where  Jesus  was  pre- 
sent. Scribes  were  there,  suspecting  that  the  man's 
condition  would  appeal  to  Jesus  and  that  he  would  prob- 
ably attempt  to  cure  him.  The  case  suited  their  purpose 
admirably,  for  the  disease  was  not  painful  or  dangerous, 
such  as  they  would  themselves  have  treated  on  a  Sab- 
bath, but  was  chronic  and  could  be  left  with  entire 
safety  for  week  day  treatment.  Jesus  saw  that  the 
situation  was  a  virtual  challenge  to  him  and  at  once 
accepted  it.  He  asked  the  man  to  stand  up  so  that 
every  one  might  see  him,  put  to  the  Scribes  a  few 
searching  questions  which  they  could  not  answer,  and 
cured  him  on  the  spot. 

3.  What  was  Jesus'  view  of  the  Sabbath?  In  the 
episode  of  the  grain  field  Jesus  justified  his  conduct  by 
an  appeal  to  what  David  allowed  his  young  men  to  do. 
When  they  were  hungry,  he  allowed  them  to  eat  sacred 
bread.     Does  Jesus  argue  that  since  the  legal   sacred- 


OFFENDED  BY  USE  OF  SABBATH  93 

ness  of  the  bread  did  not  make  its  use  to  satisfy  hunger 
illegal,  so  the  legal  sacredness  of  the  Sabbath  day  ought 
not  to  make  its  use  to  satisfy  hunger  illegal?  Is  it  man's 
need  of  food  that  takes  precedence  over  the  law?  Jesusl 
disciples  do  not  seem  to  have  been  in  any  desperate 
need  of  food.  Or  on  the  other  hand,  vv^as  it  the  great- 
ness of  David,  as  the  Scribes  felt  it,  that  excused  the 
act  of  his  young  men?  Was  David  so  great  a  person- 
age as  properly  to  override  the  law?  If  this  be  the 
argument,  then  Jesus  is  by  implication  assuming  that 
he  himself  is  a  great  personage.  See  further  the  argu- 
ment found  in  the  second  supplementary  reading.  In 
V.  27  there  is  added  a  word  of  Jesus,  perhaps  spoken 
on  some  other  occasion,  which  expresses  his  funda- 
mental idea.  The  Sabbath  is  an  institution  established 
by  God  for  the  welfare  of  man.  Its  use,  therefore,  is  to 
be  determined  by  the  real  needs  of  man. 

This  general  viewpoint  of  Jesus  comes  out  clearly  in 
his  treatment  of  the  cripple  on  the  Sabbath.  The  man's 
need  was  great.  A  fragment  of  a  lost  Gospel  makes 
him  say :  'T  was  a  stone  mason,  earning  my  living  with 
my  hands.  I  beseech  you,  Jesus,  to  restore  my  health 
that  I  may  not  miserably  beg  for  my  food."  There 
could  be  no  better  use  made  of  the  Sabbath  than  to 
help  such  a  man  immediately.  Why  keep  him  in  this 
condition  another  day?  "It  is  lawful  to  do  good  on 
the  Sabbath  day."  To  be  desirous  to  do  the  man  good 
was  certainly  more  pleasing  to  God,  than  to  sit  plotting 
the  death  of  Jesus  as  the  Scribes  were  doing  (v.  4)  ! 

Questions  : 

What  are  the  principal  needs  of  men  that  the  Sab- 


94  ABOUT  JESUS 

bath  ought  to  meet,  and  how  ought  the  Sabbath  to  be 
spent  in  order  to  make  it  meet  these  needs? 

What  real  need  does  pubHc  worship  meet,  and  how? 
-  Should  the  Sabbath  be  used  for  recreation,  and  if  so 
to  what  extent  and  by  whom? 

To  what  extent  should  the  use  of  the  Sabbath  be  a 
subject  of  governmental  legislation? 

How  can  the  Sabbath  be  used  for  the  developmeni 
of  friendship,  which  was  clearly  one  of  the  great  ob- 
jects Jesus  was  always  seeking  in  every  way  to  secure? 

From  an  early  Christian  document : 

"And  on  the  day  called  Sunday,  all  who  live  in  cities 
or  in  country  gather  together  to  one  place,  and  the 
memoirs  of  the  apostles  or  the  writings  of  the  prophets 
are  read,  as  long  as  time  permits  ;  then,  when  the  reader 
has  ceased,  the  president  verbally  instructs,  and  exhorts 
to  the  imitation  of  these  good  things.  Then  we  all  rise 
together  and  pray,  and,  as  we  before  said,  when  our 
prayer  is  ended,  bread  and  wine  and  water  are  brought, 
and  the  president  in  like  manner  offers  prayers  and 
thanksgivings,  according  to  his  ability,  and  the  people 
assent  saying,  Amen ;  and  there  is  distribution  to  each, 
and  a  participation  of  that  over  which  thanks  have  been 
:given,  and  to  those  who  are  absent  a  portion  is  sent  by 
the  deacons.  And  they  who  are  well  to  do,  and  willing, 
give  what  each  thinks  fit ;  and  what  is  collected  is 
deposited  with  the  president,  who  succors  the  orphans 
and  widows,  and  those  who,  through  sickness  or  any 
other  cause,  are  in  want,  and  those  who  are  in  bonds, 
and  the  strangers  sojourning  among  us,  and  in  a  word 
takes  care  of  all  who  are  in  need." 

—Justin   Martyr,    150  A.D. 


STUDY    XVII 

THE  OFFICIAL  VERDICT  OF  THE  JERU- 
SALEM  SCRIBES   AND  JESUS' 
SUMMARY  OF  THE  RE- 
SULTS OF  HIS 
TEACHING      . 

Supplementary   Readings  : 

1.  Mark  3:7-12  4-  Mark  4:9-13 

2.  Matthew  12  :  22-32  5-  Mark  4 :  21-25 

3.  Mark  3  :  31-35  6.  Luke  8  :  1-15 

7.  Matthew  13 '•  1-23 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Mark  3:  19.  And  he  cometh  into  a  house.  20.  And 
the  multitude  cometh  together  again,  so  that  they 
could  not  so  much  as  eat  bread.  21.  And  when  his 
friends  heard  it,  they  went  out  to  lay  hold  on  him: 
for  they  said,  He  is  beside  himself.  22.  And  the 
scribes  which  came  down  from  Jerusalem  said,  He 
hath  Beelzebub,  and.  By  the  prince  of  the  devils 
casteth  he  out  the  devils. 

27  But  no  one  can  enter  into  the  house  ot  the 
strong  man,  and  spoil  his  goods,  except  he  first  bind 
the  strong  man;  and  then  he  will  spoil  his  house. 

Mark  a:  i.  And  again  he  began  to  teach  by  the  sea 
side.  And  there  is  gathered  unto  him  a  very  great  mul- 

95 


96  ABOUT  JESUS 

titude,  so  that  he  entered  into  a  boat,  and  sat  in  the 
sea;  and  all  the  multitude  were  by  the  sea  on  the 
land.  2.  And  he  taught  them  many  things  in  para- 
bles, and  said  unto  them  in  his  teaching,  3.  Hearken: 
Behold,  the  sower  went  forth  to  sow:  4.  and  it  came 
to  pass,  as  he  sowed,  some  seed  fell  by  the  way  side, 
and  the  birds  came  and  devoured  it.  5.  And  other 
fell  on  the  rocky  ground,  where  it  had  not  much 
earth;  and  straightway  it  sprang  up,  because  it  had 
no  deepness  of  earth:  6.  and  when  the  sun  was  risen, 
it  was  scorched;  and  because  it  had  no  root,  it 
withered  away.  7.  And  other  fell  among  the  thorns, 
and  the  thorns  grew  up,  and  choked  it,  and  yielded 
no  fruit.  8.  And  others  fell  into  the  good  ground, 
and  yielded  fruit,  growing  up  and  increasing;  and 
brought  forth,  thirtyfold,  and  sixtyfold,  and  a  hun- 
dredfold. 

14.  The  sower  soweth  the  v/ord.  15.  And  these 
are  they  by  the  way  side,  where  the  word  is  sown; 
and  when  they  have  heard,  straightway  cometh 
Satan,  and  taketh  away  the  word  which  hath  been 
sown  in  them.  16.  And  these  in  like  manner  are 
they  that  are  sown  upon  the  rocky  places,  who,  when 
they  have  heard  the  word,  straightway  receive  it 
with  joy;  17.  and  they  have  no  root  in  themselves, 
but  endure  for  a  while;  then,  when  tribulation  or 
persecution  ariseth  because  of  the  word,  straight- 
way they  stumble.  18.  And  others  are  they  that  are 
sown  among  the  thorns;  these  are  they  that  have 
heard  the  v/ord,  19.  and  the  cares  of  the  world,  and 
the  deceitfulness  of  riches,  and  the  lusts  of  other 
things  entering  in,  choke  the  word,  and  it  becometh 
unfruitful.  20.  And  those  are  they  that  were  sown 
upon  the  good  ground;  such  as  hear  the  word,  and 
accept  it,  and  bear  fruit,  thirtyfold,  and  sixtyfold, 
and  a  hundredfold. 


OFFICIAL  VERDICT  OF  SCRIBES  97 

1.  The  fact  that  the  Scribes  dropped  Jesus  from  the 
list  of  eligible  synagogue  speakers  seems  not  to  have 
lessened  his  popularity.  He  gave  his  lectures  on  the 
sea  shore  and  on  one  occasion  was  nearly  trampled 
underfoot  by  the  friendly  mob  that  was  trying  to  get 
near  him  with  their  sick  (see  first  supplementary  read- 
ing). 

The  crowds  so  constantly  thronged  the  court-j^ard 
of  the  house  where  he  stayed  that  there  was  no  time 
for  him  or  them  to  eat.  The  members  of  his  family  in 
Nazareth  when  they  heard  of  it  concluded  that  he  was 
becoming  mentally  unbalanced,  was  threatened  with 
nervous  breakdown,  and  came  to  Capernaum  to  take 
him  home  for  rest  (see  3:20-21  and  the  third  supple- 
mentary reading). 

2.  It  became  necessary  for  the  Scribes  to  do  some- 
thing to  destroy  the  popularity  of  a  man  who  from  their 
standpoint  seemed  to  be  an  irreligious  man — they  must 
save  the  people  from  his  ruinous  influence.  Accord- 
ingly the  great  Scribes  from  Jerusalem,  the  headquarters 
of  scribism,  came  down  to  the  north  country  and  pub- 
lished in  all  the  synagogues  an  official  opinion  regard- 
ing him.  His  wonderful  power  over  demons  and  over 
diseases  inflicted  on  men  by  Satan  could  not  come 
from  God,  since  Jesus  was  an  irreligious  law  breaker. 
It  must  therefore  have  come  to  him  from  Satan.  He 
was  a  trusted  confederate  of  Satan.  Therefore  the 
demons,  whenever  they  saw  him,  recognized  him  as  their 
superior  and  obeyed  him.  This  verdict  was  intended  to 
put  a  stop  to  Jesus'  work.  It  was  calculated  to  make 
every  sick  person  or  little  child  dread  the  touch  of  his 
healing  hand,  to  make  all  men  dread  the  glance  of  his 


98  ABOUT  JESUS 

evil  eye  and  hurry  away  from  his  public  lecture  before 
the  spell  of  his  demonic  word  should  fall  upon  them! 
Jesus  invited  the  great  Scribes  to  a  public  lecture  (Mark 
3:23)  in  which  he  ansv/ered  their  charge  (see  second 
supplementary  reading).  He  appealed  to  his  own  inner 
consciousness  of  having  overcome  the  Devil  instead  of 
being  the  Devil's  trusted  subordinate.  He  presented  this 
idea  in  the  parable  of  the  Strong  Man  Bound  (3:27). 
He  had  tied  up  the  Strong  Man,  the  chief  of  the  de- 
mons, and  was  now  proceeding  to  do  what  he  pleased 
with  the  lesser  demons. 

3.  At  about  this  time  Jesus  summed  up  the  results  of 
his  months  of  preaching  regarding  the  nearness  of  the 
New  Age,  the  nature  of  its  life,  and  the  way  to  prepare 
for  it.  He  summed  it  up  in  the  form  of  a  parable,  the 
meaning  of  which  was  not  immediately  evident  to  those 
who  heard  it  (4:  10)  but  which  was  thought-provoking 
and  worthy,  as  Jesus  assured  them,  of  the  most  pro- 
found attention   (4:9). 

The  parable  gives  an  experience  familiar  in  ordinary 
farm  life.  In  Galilee  even  a  small  field  often  had  a 
variety  of  soil.^  This  resulted  in  a  crop  which  varied 
in  different  parts  of  the  same  field. 

As  Jesus  walked  thoughtfully  through  the  fields,  re- 
flecting upon  his  months  of  experience,  it  seemed  to  him 
that  the  phenomenon  of  the  field  exactly  illustrated  it. 
His  hearers  fell  into  four  classes,  according  to  the 
degree  and  kind  of  attention  they  gave  to  the  truths  he 
liad  presented.  The  significant  word,  several  times  re- 
peated in  Jesus'  explanation  of  the  parable,  is  the  word 
"hear."  The  first  class  of  hearers  were  like  the  hard 
beaten  path  which  took  into   itself  absolutely  none  of 


OFFICIAL  VERDICT  OF  SCRIBES  99 

the  seed.  These  were  the  Scribes,  hard  with  prejudice 
against  the  message  of  Jesus.  Satan  was  ever  with 
them,  seeing  to  it  that  no  truth  received  any  candid 
attention  (v.  15).  (It  was  they  who  were  in  league  with 
Satan,  not  Jesus!)  Another  class  of  hearers  always 
present  in  his  audience  was  made  up  of  the  eager  men 
and  women  who  at  once  responded,  but  who  could  not 
stand  the  petty  social  persecutions  which  the  local 
Scribes  stirred  up  against  them  in  the  communities  to 
which  they  belonged.  They  soon  gave  up  preparing  for 
the  New  Age  (vs.  16-17).  The  third  class  consisted 
of  men  and  women  much  stronger  and  more  inde- 
pendent, who  had  great  capacity  for  permanent,  intel- 
ligent attention,  but  their  attention  was  all  given  to  other 
things.  They  had  so  many  perplexing  things  to  attend 
to,  money  and  business  to  look  after,  social  engage- 
ments to  keep,  that  they  never  had  time  to  give  pro- 
longed thought  to  the  ideas  presented  by  Jesus  (vs. 
18-19).  The  fourth  class  was  made  up  of  thoughtful 
people  who,  as  Luke  says  (sixth  supplementary  read- 
ing), "in  an  honest  and  good  heart,  having  heard  the 
word,  hold  it  fast  and  bring  forth  fruit  with  patience." 

4.  This  shows  that  Jesus  was  not  deceived  by  his  great 
popularity.  He  knew  that  a  large  part  of  it  was  due  to 
his  power  over  disease  and  demons  and  did  not  indi- 
cate devotion  to  his  ideas  about  the  kind  of  life  de- 
manded by  the  New  Age.  Still  the  parable  was  opti- 
mistic, even  if  there  was  only  one  class  out  of  four  that 
was  really  developing  the  character  requisite  for  the 
New  Age.  It  was  the  farmer's  usual  success,  which  was 
sufficient  to  sustain  amply  the  life  of  the  community. 

5.  The  problem  of  developing  character  is  the  prob- 


100  ABOUT  JESUS 


lem  of  securing  prolonged  attention  to  the  truth, 
whether  on  the  part  of  one's  self  or  others.  The  pen- 
alty for  refusing  to  give  candid  attention  is  twofold: 
power  to  give  attention  decreases  and  the  truth  grad- 
ually ceases  to  seem  true.  The  final  consequence  is 
that  truth  seems  falsehood.  To  the  Scribes  Jesus  finally 
seemed  a  product  of  hell  and  not  of  heaven.  This  is 
part  of  the  justification  for  at  least  a  few  moments  of 
quiet  prayerful  thought  about  Christ  each  day,  for  a  few 
moments  of  close  attention  to  some  paragraph  from  the 
Bible. 

Questions  : 

What  seems  to  you  to  have  been  the  most  vital  dif- 
ference between  the  viewpoint  of  the  Scribes  and  the 
viewpoint  of  Jesus? 

What  seem  to  you  to  be  the  things  that  keep  men 
from  being  thoughtful,  from  thinking  about  the  sub- 
jects that  they  would  be  the  better  for  giving  candid 
attention  to? 

How  can  you  get  men  to  begin  to  give  a  degree  of 
candid  attention  to  the  ideas  of  Jesus? 

How  can  we  develop  in  ourselves  the  power  of  pro- 
longed attention? 

//  a  man  will  think  steadily  and  honestly  for  half  an 
hour  of  God,  of  eternity,  of  some  duty,  of  some  good 
friend,  an  effect  will  be  produced  in  his  character. 
"What  gets  your  attention  gets  you." 


STUDY    XVIII 

JESUS  WITHDRAWS  FROM  THE  PROV- 
INCE AFTER  A  FINAL  CLASH  WITH 
THE    SCRIBES    OVER    THEIR 
TREATMENT       OF       THE 
SACRED  SCRIPTURES 


Si 

JPPLEMENTARY    READINGS  I 

I. 

2. 

3. 

Mark  4: 
Mark  4 : 
Mark  5  : 

:  26-34 

35-41 
1-20 

7. 

Matthew 

4. 

5. 
6. 

Mark  5  : 
Mark  6: 
Mark  7: 
5 :    1-20 

21- 

30- 
i6- 

-43 
-56 
■22> 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Mark  7:  i.  And  there  are  gathered  together  unta 
him  the  Pharisees,  and  certain  of  the  scribes,  which 
had  come  from  Jerusalem,  2.  and  had  seen  that  some 
of  his  disciples  ate  their  bread  with  defiled,  that 
is,  unwashen,  hands.  3.  For  the  Pharisees,  and  all 
the  Jews,  except  they  wash  their  hands  diligently, 
eat  not,  holding  the  tradition  of  the  elders:  4.  and 
when  they  come  from  the  marketplace,  except  they 
wash  themselves,  they  eat  not:  and  many  other 
things  there  be,  which  they  have  received  to  hold, 
washings  of  cups,  and  pots,  and  brasen  vessels.  5. 
And  the  Pharisees  and  the  scribes  ask  him,  Why 
walk  not  thy  disciples  according  to  the  tradition 
of  the  elders,  but  eat  their  bread  with  defiled  hands? 

lOI 


102  ABOUT  JESUS 

6.  And  he  said  unto  them,  Well  did  Isaiah  prophesy 
of  you  hypocrites,  as  it  is  written, 

This  people  honoureth  me  with  their  lips 
But  their  heart  is  far  from  me.  ' 

7-  But  in  vain  do  they  worship  me, 
Teaching  as  their  doctrines  the  precepts  of  men 
8.  Ye  leave  the  commandment  of  God,  and  hold  fast 
the   tradition   of  men.     9.   And  he   said  unto   them, 
inill  well   do  ye   reject  the   commandment  of   God 
that   ye   m.ay  keep   your   tradition.      10.    For   Moses 
said,   Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother;   and    He 
that  speaketh  evil  of  father  or  mother,  let  him  die 
tJie  death:  but  ye  say,  n.  If  a  man  shall  say  to  his 
father  or  his  mother,  That  wherewith  thou  mightest 
have  been  profited  by  me  is  Corban,  that  is  to  say 
Given   to   God;    12.   ye   no   longer  suffer  him   to   do 
aught  for  his  father  or  his  mother;  13.  making  void 
the  word  of  God  by  your  tradition,  which  ye  have 
delivered:   and   many   such   like   things   ye    do.      14 
And  he  called  to  him  the  multitude  again,  and  said 
unto  them,  Hear  me  all  of  you,  and  understand:  15 
there  is  nothing  from  without  the  man,  that  going 
into  him  can  defile  him:  but  the  things  which  pro- 
ceed out  of  the  man  are  those  that  defile  the  man. 
24.  And  from  thence  he  arose,  and  went  away  into 
the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.    And  he  entered  into 
a  house,  and  would  have  no  man  know  if  and  he 
could  not  be  hid. 

I.  The  effort  of  the  Great  Scribes  from  Jerusalem 
to  destroy  Jesus'  popularity  and  influence  by  declaring 
him  to  be  a  confederate  of  Satan  seems  to  have  failed. 
The    supplementary   readings    show   this. 

He  now  comes  to  a  clash  with  them  over  a  matter 
that  is  more  serious  than  any  yet  mentioned,  namely 
their    "tradition."      "Tradition"    was    a    technical    term 


FINAL  CLASH  WITH  SCRIBES  103 

designating  the  steadily  growing  body  of  commentary 
on,  or  explanation  of.  the  Sacred  Law.  It  had  been 
handed  down  in  oral  teaching  from  one  generation  of 
devout  scholars  to  the  next.  It  was  popularly  supposed 
to  have  begun  in  some  way  with  Moses  himself  and 
so  to  have  come  pretty  directly  from  God.  It  was 
never  put  into  wTiting  until  some  two  or  three  hundred 
years  after  Jesus'  day,  and  then  it  kept  on  growing. 
It  is  still  growing,  unless  the  war  has  stopped  the 
discussions  of  learned  Rabbis. 

The  motive  of  the  Great  Scribes  was  a  very  natural 
desire  to  tell  the  people  what  the  Law  meant,  to  de- 
scribe its  application  to  daily  life,  to  put  it  in  the  form 
in  which  it  must  be  obeyed  by  those  who  proposed  to 
become  righteous  enough  to  enter  the  New  Age.  The 
aim  of  the  Scribes  was  to  secure  obedience  to  all  the 
details  of  the  Law,  as  they  explained  it,  on  the  part 
of  all  the  people.  When,  therefore,  a  popular  prophet 
talking  about  preparation  for  the  New  Age  ignored,  or 
opposed,  the  Sacred  Tradition,  he  seemed  to  the  Scribes 
to  be  a  serious  menace  to  true  religion. 

2.  Jesus,  who  had  never  studied  under  any  Scribe,  had, 
of  course,  never  learned  the  ''tradition."  He  had  heard 
it  quoted  by  various  Scribes  whom  he  had  for  years 
heard  teaching  in  synagogues  on  the  Sabbath.  He  had 
carefully  studied  the  Law  and  had  come  to  feel  that 
the  "tradition"  was  at  many  points  absolutely  opposed 
to  the  spirit  of  the  Law  it  purported  to  explain.  In 
his  own  synagogue  lectures  he  never  quoted  it.  "He 
spoke  as  one  having  authority  and  not  as  the  scribes." 
Some  of  his  own  immediate  disciples  were  notoriously 
lax  in  failing  to  wash  their  hands  properly  before  eat- 


104  ABOUT  JESUS 

ing.  The  Scribes  were  particularly  solicitous  on  this 
point  because  in  the  Holy  Law  persons  were  rendered 
ceremonially  "unclean"  by  touching  various  "unclean" 
persons  or  objects.  Since  fingers  were  used  instead 
of  knives  and  forks  in  eating,  there  was  great  danger 
that  those  who  ate  "with  unwashed  hands"  would 
render  the  food  they  touched  unclean,  and  so  by  it  they 
would  be  seriously  "denied"  in  a  religious  sense.  Local 
Scribes  and  some  of  the  Great  Scribes  from  Jerusalem 
complained  to  Jesus  about  the  wrong  doing  of  his 
disciples  in  this  particular  (vs.  1-5).  Jesus  turned  on 
them  with  greater  vigor  than  he  had  previously  showed 
in  his  Intercourse  with  them.  He  called  them  "hypo- 
crites," that  is,  those  who  posed  as  teachers  of  God's 
law  but  really  were  opposed  to  its  spirit  (vs.  6-9). 
Perhaps  this  vigor  was  aroused  by  the  moral  per- 
versity they  had  showed  in  calling  the  Spirit  of  God 
within  him,  for  which  he  felt  so  profound  a  reverence, 
the  Spirit  of  Satan.  (See  Study  XVH,  Mark  3:  28- 
30.) 

He  then  proceeded  to  specify  a  particular  in  which 
their  tradition  was  in  flagrant  opposition  to  the  spirit 
of  the  Law.  The  Law  regarded  the  honoring  of  a 
father  and  a  mother  as  so  important  that  failure  de- 
served the  death  penalty.  But  the  tradition  allowed  a 
man  to  regard  his  entire  estate  as  "devoted"  by  a 
vow  to  God  in  such  a  way  as  to  forbid  the  use  of  any 
of  it  for  a  father  or  mother.  The  man,  however, 
seems  not  necessarily  to  have  actually  parted  with  any 
of  his  property.  If  he  afterward  repented  of  such 
scandalous  treatment  of  his  parents,  the  tradition  made 
it  impossible   for  him  to  go  back  on  his  vow.     Jesus 


FINAL  CLASH  WITH  SCRIBES  105 

said  that  there  were  many  such  horrible  inconsistencies 
in  their  tradition  (vs.  10-13).  Perhaps  he  had  known 
of  many  such  in  his  Nazareth  years. 

It  is  very  exasperating  to  a  speciaHst  to  be  accused 
b)'  an  ordinary  man  of  incompetence  in  the  sphere  of 
his  specialty!  Jesus  went  still  further  in  his  attack 
on  the  spurious  religion  of  the  particular  Scribes  with 
whom  he  was  dealing.  He  delivered  a  public  lecture 
attended  by  crowds  of  people  in  which  he  declared  the 
tradition  of  the  .Scribes  regarding  eating  with  unwashed 
hands  to  be  foolishness!    (vs.   14-15). 

3.  This  bold  act  on  the  part  of  Jesus  was  an  absolute 
and  final  refusal  to  compromise  with  the  Scribes.  Jesus 
was  now  acting  in  accordance  with  the  resolve  he  had 
made  in  connection  with  the  temptation  to  worship 
Satan,  which  had  come  to  him  in  the  beginning.  He 
would  be  absolutely  loyal  to  the  views  of  truth  which 
God  gave  him,  no  matter  what  the  immediate  conse- 
quences to  himself  or  his  cause  might  be.  Having  done 
this  bold  thing,  he  felt  at  liberty  to  avoid  for  the  time 
the  fierce  opposition  of  the  Scribes.  He  made  a  stra- 
tegic retreat  to  the  far  north.  "From  thence  he  arose 
and  went  away  into  the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon" 
(v.  24). 

Questions  : 

What  appears  here  to  have  been  included  in  Jesus' 
idea  of  true  religion? 

What  constitutes  "defilement"  in  a  true  rehgious 
sense? 

W^hat  is  it  to  "honor"  a  person?  To  honor  one's 
parents? 


io6  ABOUT  JESUS 

Jesus  saw  in  the  family  God's  arrangement  for  the 
development  of  character.  Its  seven  wonderful  relation- 
ships make  a  mighty  appeal  for  the  friendly  use  of 
all  a  man's  powers.  What  a  varied  demand  is  made  by 
a  man's  relation  to  his  father,  mother,  brother,  sister, 
wife,  son,  and  daughter!  Are  you  becoming  the  sort 
of  person  that  can  put  truth  and  honor  and  the  material 
for  tender  memories  into  all  these  relationships? 


PART  IV:  JESUS'  STRATEGIC  RETREAT  TO 

PREPARE  THE  TWELVE  FOR  THE  GREAT 

EVENT  IN  JERUSALEM 


STUDY    XIX 

THE  ORIGINAL  APPOIXTMEXT  AND 

EARLIER  TRAINING  OF 

THE  TWELVE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Luke  6:  12-19  4-  Matthew  10:  34-11  ^  i 

2.  Matthew  9:  35-io:  15  5-  John   i:  35-42 

3.  Matthew  10 :  16-33  6.  John  i :  43-51 

7,  Luke  10:   1-20 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Mark  3:  13.  And  he  goeth  up  into  the  mountain, 
and  calleth  unto  him  whom  he  himself  would:  and 
they  went  unto  him.  14.  And  he  appointed  twelve, 
that  they  might  be  with  him,  and  that  he  might  send 
them  forth  to  preach,  15.  and  to  have  authority  to 
cast  out  devils:  16.  and  Simon  he  surnamed  Peter; 
17.  and  James  the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  John  the 
brother  of  James;  and  them  he  surnamed  Boanerges, 
which  is,  Sons  of  thunder:  18.  and  Andrev/,  and 
Philip,  and  Bartholomew,  and  Matthew,  and  Thomas, 
and  James  the  son  of  Alphasus,  and  Thaddasus,  and 
Simon  the  Cananaean,  and  Judas  Iscariot,  19.  which 
also  betrayed  him. 

Mark  6:  7.  And  he  called  unto  him  the  twelve, 
and  began  to  send  them  forth  by  two  and  two; 
and  he  gave  them  authority  over  the  unclean  spirits; 
8.  and  he  charged  them  that  they  should  take  noth- 
ing for  their  journey,   save  a  staff  only;  no  bread, 

109 


no  ABOUT  JESUS 

no  wallet,  no  money  in  their  purse;  9.  but  to  gp  shod 
with  sandals:  and,  said  he,  put  not  on  two  coats. 
10.  And  he  said  unto  them.  Wheresoever  ye  enter 
into  a  house,  there  abide  till  ye  depart  thence.  11. 
And  whatsoever  place  shall  not  receive  you,  and 
they  hear  you  not,  as  ye  go  forth  thence,  shake  off 
the  dust  that  is  under  your  feet  for  a  testimony 
unto  them.  12.  And  they  went  out,  and  preached 
that  men  should  repent.  13.  And  they  cast  out  many 
devils,  and  anointed  with  oil  many  that  were  sick, 
and  healed  them. 

30.  And  the  apostles  gather  themselves  together 
unto  Jesus;  and  they  told  him  all  things,  whatsoever 
they  had  done,  and  whatsoever  they  had  taught. 
31.  And  he  saith  unto  them,  Come  ye  yourselves 
apart  into  a  desert  place,  and  rest  a  while.  For 
there  were  many  coming  and  going,  and  they  had 
no  leisure  so  much  as  to  eat.  32.  And  they  went 
away  in  the  boat  to  a  desert  place  apart. 

I.  Some  time  before  the  point  we  have  now  reached 
in  the  Studies,  Jesus  had  selected  from  the  large  num- 
ber of  people  v/ho  listened  to  his  teaching  with  some 
regularity  twelve  men,  to  whom  he  proposed  to  give 
special  attention  in  order  to  prepare  them  for  special 
responsibilities.  He  had  sent  out  personal  invitations 
to  a  considerable  number  of  people,  asking  them  to 
meet  him  at  a  specified  place  in  the  hill  country  of 
Galilee  (3:  13)  and  there,  after  seeking  guidance  from 
God  in  a  night  of  prayer  (Luke  6:  12-13),  he  selected 
twelve  men,  whom  he  apparently  presented  to  the  rest 
to  be  recognized  thenceforth  as  his  special  assistants 
(3:  14-15).  There  was  a  significance  in  the  number 
twelve.  It  was  popularly  expected  that  the  old  twelve 
tribe  organization   of   the  nation  would  be   revived   in 


EARLY  TRAINING  OF  THE  TWELVE      in 

the  New  Age.  The  old  prophet  Elijah  was  expected 
to  reappear  just  before  the  beginning  of  the  New  Age 
"to  restore  all  things"  (Mark  9:  11-12).  Very  likely 
such  reorganization  of  the  nation  may  have  sometimes 
been  expected  of  him.  We  shall  see  that  many  people 
considered  Jesus  to  be  Elijah. 

Jesus  expected  two  things  of  the  Twelve.  They  were 
to  go  about  urging  people  to  make  the  sort  of  prepa- 
ration for  the  life  of  the  New  Age  that  Jesus  had  de- 
scribed, and  they  were  to  attack  the  power  of  Satan 
(3:  14-15).  They  were  to  get  power  to  do  both  of 
these  things  through  continued  association  with  Jesus, 
repeatedly  hearing  his  teaching  an3  experiencing  the 
contagion  of  his  character   (3:   14). 

He  presumably  saw  in  these  men  peculiar  fitness  for 
such  work. .  Perhaps  also  they  were  men  who  had 
no  families  or  whose  families  were  not  dependent  on 
them  for  support.  They  included  widely  separated 
political  classes.  Matthew  the  publican,  who  had  been 
ready  to  accept  office  under  the  Romans,  and  Simon 
the  "Zealot,"  who  was  ready  for  revolt  against  the 
Romans,  were  both  included, 

2.  An  account  is  given  in  Mark  of  the  first  occasion 
on  which  the  Twelve  went  out  to  see  what  they  could 
accomplish  in  the  work  they  had  been  chosen  to  do. 
They  were  sent  out  in  couples  in  order  to  keep  each 
other's  courage  up  and  to  make  a  stronger  impression 
on  the  communities  they  visited.  What  two  or  three 
witnesses  said  had  peculiar  force  (II  Corinthians  13: 
i).  They  were  to  be  regarded  as  "prophets,"  emphasiz- 
ing by  the  peculiarities  of  their  dress  and  manner,  as 
the  prophets  so  often  did,  the  character  of  their  mes- 


112  ABOUT  JESUS 

sage.  The  purpose  of  the  directions  given  in  6:8-ii 
is  to  make  the  impression  in  oriental  fashion  that  there 
was  urgent  need  of  instant  action.  They  were  to  show 
by  their  dress  that  they  had  taken  no  time  to  prepare 
for  the  journey  and  they  were  to  spend  no  time  after 
they  arrived  in  the  leisurely  social  functions  of  oriental 
life.  It  was  as  if  a  man  without  hat  or  coat  or  shoes 
should  ride  through  the  village,  shouting  out  some 
exciting  message  as  he  rode.  The  message  of  these 
men  was :  "The  Kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand.     Repent !" 

3.  After  some  weeks  of  such  work  they  assembled 
again  and  reported  the  things  they  had  said  in  the 
synagogues  or  in  the  market  places  and  recounted  their 
successes  or  failures  in  curing  the  sick  and  driving  out 
demons  (6:  30).  Their  report  must  have  been  intensely 
interesting  to  Jesus.  His  night  of  prayer  preceding 
their  appointment  shows  how  significant  tlieir  mission 
seemed  to  him  to  be.  This  appears  still  more  clearly 
in  what  he  said  about  his  experience  at  a  later  time, 
when  seventy  disciples  were  sent  out  in  couples  to  do 
the  same  thing  that  the  Twelve  do  here.  While  thej'" 
were  out  on  their  mission  he  had  a  profound  spiritual 
experience,  a  vision  in  which  he  saw  Satan  fall  swiftly 
and  hopelessly  like  a  thunderbolt  hurled  out  of  its 
place  in  the  sky.  (Luke  10:  18,  seventh  supplementary 
reading.)  Jesus  was  certain  that  men  going  out  in 
the  power  of  his  name  could  do  that  which  would  over- 
throw evil  in  the  world,  that  which  would  make  the 
life  of  the  New  Age  universal  and  secure. 

5.  Jesus  felt  that  the  Twelve  heeded  rest  after  the 
strenuous  experiences  of  their  first  campaign  (6:  31). 
The  nervous   strain   of    speaking   from   the    synagogue 


EARLY  TRAINING  OF  THE  TWELVE      113 

platform  was  considerable  for  men  who  had  not  been 
accustomed  to  public  speech.  The  opposition  of  the 
local  Scribes  in  each  community  involved  a  good  deal 
of  unpleasant  friction.  The  subject  which  they  every- 
where presented — the  coming  judgment  day  and  the 
dawning  of  the  New  Age — was  in  itself  exciting,  and 
led  to  many  long  and  exhausting  personal  interviews. 
Driving  out  demons  too  must  have  involved  consider- 
able nervous  strain.  It  is  not  strange  that  Jesus  took 
them  apart  from  the  crowds  that  Were  always  about 
and  provided  for  a  period  of  rest. 

Questions  : 

Is  it  possible  to  conjecture  how  the  Twelve  were 
paired,  that  is,  how  it  was  determined  who  should  go 
together? 

What  were  the  principal  motives  that  influenced  them 
in  their  mission? 

In  what  ways  would  the  thought  of  Jesus  have  been 
an  inspiration  to  these  men  while  they  were  out  on 
their  mission? 

What  are  the  advantages  of  association  with  another 
person  in  religious  activity?  What,  if  any,  are  the 
dangers  of  such  association  ?  As  you  review  your  own 
life  what  moral  values  have  ever  come  into  your  life 
from  another  and  how  have  they  come? 

"And  I  will  give 
To  thee  Man's  work,  so  fitted  to  thy  growth 

That  in  God's  Kingdom-Building  thou  mayst  use 
The  largest  powers.     But  this  will  cost  thee  both 

Thyself  and  things  which,  dear  to  thee,  thou'lt  lose." 

— Doremus  Scudder. 


STUDY    XX 

JESUS  INSISTS  THAT  THE  MESSIANIC 
SECRET  BE  PRESERVED  AND  AS- 
TOUNDS THE  TWELVE  BY  THE  IN- 
CREDIBLE ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  A 
MESSIANIC  EXECUTION  AND  RESUR- 
RECTION SOON  TO  OCCUR  IN  JERU- 
SALEM 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Matthew   16:13-28  4.  Matthew  17:1-13 

2.  Luke  9  :  18-27  5-  Luke  9 :  28-36 

3.  Mark  9:2-13  6.  Mark  9:  14-29 

7.  Luke  9 :  37-43 

^Passage  for  Study: 

Mark  8:  27.  And  Jesus  went  forth,  and  his  disciples, 
into  the  villages  of  Caesarea  Philippi ;  and  in  the  "way 
he  asked  his  disciples,  saying  unto  them.  Who  do 
men  say  that  I  am?  28.  And  they  told  him,  saying, 
John  the  Baptist:  and  others,  Elijah;  but  others, 
One  of  the  prophets.  29.  And  he  asked  them.  But 
who  say  ye  that  I  am?  Peter  answereth  and  saith 
unto  him.  Thou  art  the  Christ.    30.  And  he  charged 

^Do  not  fail  to  read  the  "Passage  for  Study"  both  before  and 
after  reading  the  comment.  Note,  if  possible,  in  writing  the 
thoughts  that  will  more  and  more  come  to  you  in  connection 
with  the  study. 

114 


THE  MESSIANIC  SECRET  115 

them  that  they  should  tell  no  man  of  him.  31.  And 
he  began  to  teach  them,  that  the  Son  of  man  must 
suffer  many  things,  and  be  rejected  by  the  elders, 
and  the  chief  priests,  and  the  scribes,  and  be  killed, 
and  after  three  days  rise  again.  32.  And  he  spake 
the  saying  openly.  And  Peter  took  him,  and  began 
to  rebuke  him.  33.  But  he  turning  about,  and  seeing 
his  disciples,  rebuked  Peter,  and  saith,  Get  thee  be- 
hind me,  Satan:  for  thou  mindest  not  the  things 
of  God,  but  the  things  of  men. 

I.  In  this  period  of  temporary  retreat  before  the  hos- 
tility of  the  Scribes,  Jesus  makes  an  earnest  endeavor 
to  adjust  the  minds  of  the  Twelve  to  a  most  perplexing 
and  unwelcome  announcement.  He  prefaces  it  by  an 
inquiry  regarding  the  public  estimate  of  him  which  the 
Twelve,  perhaps  during  occasional  visits  to  their  homes 
in  Galilee,  have  found.  They  report  that  the  antago- 
nism of  the  Scribes  has  not  diminished  his  popularity. 
He  is  still  the  people's  Prophet.  He  is  even  thought  to 
be  a  reincarnation  of  some  one  of  the  great  prophets 
of  the  past,  who  were  expected  to  appear  in  the  last 
days  of  the  Old  Age.  Some  think  that  the  spirit  of 
John  the  Baptist,  recently  executed,  has  entered  into 
Jesus'  body.  No  one  thinks  him  to  be  the  "Messiah," 
or  "Christ."  But  now,  for  the  first  time  in  Mark's 
.Gospel,  it  suddenly  develops  that  one  of  the  Twelve, 
speaking  at  least  for  some  of  the  others  also,  regards 
Jesus  as  the  Messiah  in  disguise.  The  narrative  in 
Mark  leaves  it  uncertain  whether  or  not  this  is  a  new 
idea.  It  seems  hardly  probable  that  in  these  dark  days 
when  Jesus  is  a  semi-exile  from  his  province  the  idea 
should  first  spring  up  in  the  minds  of  the  Twelve.    The. 


ii6  ABOUT  JESUS 

parallel  account  in  Matthew's  Gospel  represents  Jesus 
as  assuming  that  they  have  been  accustomed  to  thinic 
of  him  as  the  Messianic  Son  of  Man.  In  any  case  one 
thing  is  perfectly  clear,  namely,  that  the  public  does 
not  think  Jesus  to  be  the  Messiah  and  that  he  does  not 
intend  to  have  them.  His  Messiahship  is  to  be  the 
strictly  guarded  secret  of  the  inner  circle  of  disciples 
(v.  30). 

2.  Then  follows  an  announcement  that  comes  like  a 
blow  in  the  face  to  his  most  enthusiastic  disciple  and 
that  seems  likely  for  a  while  completely  to  alienate  all 
the  rest  of  the  inner  circle  (v.  31). 

There  were  several  startling  features  in  the  announce- 
ment. It  was  perplexing  to  hear  him  call  himself  "The 
Son  of  Alan,"  for  this  was  the  designation  of  a  glori- 
ous angelic  being  reserved  in  the  heavens  by  God  until 
the  judgment  day,  when  one  class  of  people  expected 
him  to  come  to  the  earth  as  a  glorious  Messiah  and 
judge  the  world.  This  was  the  representation  in  the 
Book  of  Enoch — a  book  highly  esteemed  later  by 
many  Christians  (Jude  14).  Another  class  of  people 
looked  for  a  Messiah  to  be  called  "The  Son  of  David," 
whose  career  would  be  more  in  accord  with  that  of 
the  old  warrior  King  David.  Jesus  never  uses  this 
title  o'f  himself,  but  evidently  'thinks  of  himself  as 
a  Messiah  of  the  less  military,  less  narrov/ly  Jew- 
ish, Son  of  Man  type.  But  what  is  "The  Son  of  Man" 
doing  on  the  earth  before  the  judgment  day?  The 
disciples  might  conclude  that  the  glorious  radiant  spirit 
c?f  the  heavenly  angelic  Son  of  Man  had  taken  pos- 
session of  the  human  body  of  Jesus.  (Three  of  them 
are    represented    later   to   have    seen    the    heavenly    ra- 


THE  MESSIANIC  SECRET  117 

diance  shine  through  the  flesh  and  clothing  of  Jesus. 
See  third  supplementary  reading.)  But  how  could  any- 
one conceive  that  the  deathless  heavenly  Son  of  Man 
should  die,  pass  into  the  regions  of  the  dead,  and  come 
up  thence  in  the  general  resurrection  at  the  judgment 
day,  instead  of  down  from  heaven,  as  all  who  looked 
for  a  Messiah  of  the  Son  of  Man  type  expected?  This 
problem  they  never  solved  during  the  lifetime  of 
Jesus,  When  Jesus  later  spoke  of  it,  they  began  "ques- 
tioning among  themselves  what  the  rising  from  the 
dead  should  mean"  (Aiark  9:10).  Still  later,  "They 
understood  not  the  saying  and  were  afraid  to  ask 
him"  (Mark  9:32).  They  probably  made  up  their 
minds  that  it  was  one  of  Jesus'  strange  utterances,  like 
some  of  the  parables  which  they  found  it  hard  to  under- 
stand. When  he  did  actually  die,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
they  utterly  abandoned  the  theory  that  he  had  been  the 
Messiah,  and  reports  of  his  resurrection  seemed  "idle 
talk"  (Luke  24:11).  Their  inability  to  understand 
Jesus  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  because  the  specification 
of  a  three-day  period  between  death  and  resurrection 
did  not  naturally  suggest  to  their  minds  three  literal 
days,  but  rather  some  short  suitable  period.  The 
prophet  Hosea  had  used  such  an  expression  of  the 
desperate  condition  of  the  nation  in  his  day — a  passage 
with  which  Jesus  was  doubtless  familiar :  "Come  and 
let  us  return  unto  Jehovah ;  for  he  hath  torn,  and  he 
will  heal  us ;  he  hath  smitten,  and  he  will  bind  us  up. 
After  two  days  he  will  revive  us;  on  the  third  day  he 
v/ill  raise  us  up,  and  we  shall  live  before  him"  (Hosea 
6:  1-2).  Jesus  himself  used  the  phrase  in  this  same 
vague  general  way  in  Luke  13  :  32,  "Behold  I  cast  out 


ii8  ABOUT  JESUS 

demons  and  perform  cures  today  and  tomorrow  and  the 
third  day  I  am  perfected." 

The  incredibility  of  Jesus'  statement  to  the  disciples 
is  also  easy  to  understand  when  we  remember,  in  addi- 
tion to  what  has  just  been  said,  that  no  Jew  of  that 
day  had  ever  dreamed  that  the  Messiah,  when  he  ap- 
peared, would  die.  Statements  in  the  Old  Testament, 
which  the  Christians  later  understood  to  be  clear 
prophecies  of  a  messianic  death,  had  never  been  so 
understood  by  any  Jewish  rabbi. 

3.  Peter's  readiness  to  remonstrate  with  Jesus  shows 
Peter's  conception  of  Messiahship.  A  Messiah,  even  of 
the  Son  of  Man  type,  was  like  a  king  who  sometimes 
might  need  to  profit  by  the  advice  of  a  trusty  counselor. 
The  intensity  with  which  Jesus  repelled  Peter's  advice, 
shows  that  he  was  in  some  measure  experiencing  a  re- 
currence of  the  temptations  developed  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Gospel.  By  listening  to  the  suggestion  of  Satan 
through  Peter  he  might  gain  the  whole  world  by  going 
the  easy  way.  But  v/hat  would  become  of  his  own 
soul  in  its  wonderful  relation  to  the  Heavenly  Father 
(v.  36)  ? 

Questions  : 

Certain  great  questions  naturally  arise,  some  of  which 
have  never  been  fully  answered.  Reflection  upon  them 
is  nevertheless  useful. 

Why  did  Jesus  wish  at  this  time  to  conceal  his 
Messiahship  from  the  public? 

What  led  Jesus  to  feel  so  sure  that  God  would  let  the 
Scribes  kill  him?  At  what  time  did  he  begin  to  realize 
this? 


THE  MESSIANIC  SECRET  119 

What  good  did  it  seem  to  him  would  be  accomplished 
by  his  execution? 

Does  the  suffering  of  the  innocent,  occasioned  by  the 
conduct  of  the  guilty,  produce  any  moral  effect  on  the 
life  of  the  world? 

"The  cry  of  man's  anguish  went  up  to  God, 

Lord,  take  away  pain ! 
The  Shadow  that  darkens  the  world  Thou  hast  made ; 

The  close  coiling  chain 
That  strangles  the  heart ;  the  burden  that  weighs 

On  the  wings  that  should  soar — 
Lord,  take  away  pain  from  the"  world  Thou  hast  made 

That  it  love  Thee  the  more ! 

Then  answered  the  Lord  to  the  cry  of  the  world, 

Shall  I  take  away  pain. 
And  with  it  the  power  of  the  soul  to  endure, 

Made  strong  by  the  strain? 
Shall  I  take  away  pity  that  knits  heart  to  heart; 

And  sacrifice  high? 
Will  ye  lose  all  your  heroes  that  lift  from  the  fire 

White  brows  to  the  sky? 
Shall  I  take  away  love  that  redeems  with  a  price 

And  smiles  at  its  loss? 
Can  ye  spare  from  your  lives  that  would  cling  unto  mine 

The  Christ  on  his  cross?" 

— Poem  Found  Written  on  the  Wall  of  a  Hospital. 


STUDY    XXI 

JESUS  ENDEAVORS  TO  PREPARE  THE 
DISCIPLES  TO  SHARE  HIS  PROS- 
PECTIVE SUFFERING 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Mark  9:  30-37  '  4.  Mark  10:  13-16 

2.  Mark  9:  38-50  5.  Mark  10:  17-31 

3.  Mark  10:  1-12  6.  Matthew  20:  17-28 

7.  John   13:   1-17 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Mark  8:  34.  And  he  called  unto  him  the  multitude 
with  his  disciples,  and  said  unto  them,  If  any  man 
would  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and 
take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me.  35.  For  whosoever 
would  save  his  life  shall  lose  it;  and  whosoever 
shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  and  the  gospel's  shall 
save  it.  36.  For  what  doth  it  profit  a  man,  to  gain 
the  v/hole  world,  and  forfeit  his  life?  37.  For  wh?t 
should  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  life?  38. 
For  whosoever  shall  be  ashamed  of  me  and  of  my 
words  in  this  adulterous  and  sinful  generation,  the 
Son  of  man  also  shall  be  asham^ed  of  him,  when 
he  Cometh  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  with  the  holy 
angels.  9:  i.  And  he  said  unto  them.  Verily  I  say 
unto  you.  There  be  some  here  of  them  that  stand 
by,  which  shall  in  no  wise  taste  of  death,  till  they 
see  the  kingdom  of  God  come  with  power. 

120 


PREPARED  FOR  SUFFERING  121 

Mark  10:  35.  And  there  come  near  unto  him  James 
and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  saying  unto  him, 
Master,  we  would  that  thou  shouldest  do  for  us 
whatsoever  we  shall  ask  of  thee.  36.  And  he  said 
unto  them,  "What  would  ye  that  I  should  do  for 
you?  37.  And  they  said  unto  him,  Grant  unto  us 
that  we  may  sit,  one  on  thy  right  hand,  and  one  on 
thy  left  hand,  in  thy  glory.  38.  But  Jesus  said  unto 
them.  Ye  know  not  what  ye  ask.  Are  ye  able  to 
drink  the  cup  that  I  drink?  or  to  be  baptized  with  the 
baptism  that  I  am  baptized  with?  39,  And  they 
said  unto  him.  We  are  able.  And  Jesus  said  unto 
them,  The  cup  that  I  drink  ye  shall  drink;  and  with 
the  baptism,  that  I  am  baptized  withal  shall  ye  be 
baptized:  40.  but  to  sit  on  my  right  hand  or  on  my 
left  hand  is  not  m.ine  to  give:  but  it  is  for  them  for 
whom  it  hath  been  prepared.  41.  And  when  the 
ten  heard  it,  they  began  to  be  moved  with  indigna- 
tion concerning  James  and  John.  /12.  And  Jesus 
called  them  to  himi,  and  saith  unto  them.  Ye  know 
that  they  v/hich  are  accounted  to  rule  over  the  Gen- 
tiles lord  it  over  them;  and  their  great  ones  exercise 
authority  over  them.  43.  But  it  is  not  so  among 
you:  but  whosoever  would  become  great  among 
you,  shall  be  your  minister:  44.  and  whosoever 
would  be  first  among  you,  shall  be  servant  of  all. 
45.  For  verily  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  minis- 
tered unto,  but  to  m.inister,  and  to  give  his  life  a 
ransom  for  many. 

I.  It  was  disconcerting  enough  for  the  disciples  to 
find  Jesus  in  the  privacy  of  their  inner  circle  presenting 
by  a  strange  "death  and  resurrection"  parable  the  idea 
that  he  as  messianic  Son  of  Man  must  endure  some 
sort  of  suffering  before  the  New  Age  could  dawn.  But 
now  he  went  further,  not  only  in  private  teaching,  but 


122  ABOUT  JESUS 

also  in  speaking  openly  to  such  local  crowds  as  gathered 
about  him  during  these  weeks  spent  outside  of  Galilee. 
Without  telling  outsiders  that  he  thought  himself  to 
be  anything  more  than  God's  prophet,  he  began  to  say 
repeatedly  that  all  who  wished  to  consort  with  him  as 
disciples  must  prepare  to  suffer  even  death  (v.  34).  He 
presented  this  idea  in  his  usual  concrete  style.  He  pic- 
tured a  procession  of  men  going  out  to  crucifixion — 
not  an  unusual  sight.  At  the  head  of  this  procession 
walked  Jesus,  and  after  him  followed  the  line  of  his 
disciples,  each  carrying  the  horizontal  piece  of  a  cross 
on  his  shoulder.  This  picture  of  men  going  out  to 
execution  was  calculated  to  put  a  decided  quietus  on 
the  aspirations  of  any  who  were  tempted  to  think  that 
Jesus,  whether  as  prophet  or  Messiah,  looked  forward 
to  a  successful  revolt  against  Rome!  All  revolutionary 
messianists  would  instantly  lose  interest  in  him.  It  is 
no  wonder  that  Peter  regarded  such  a  declaration, 
whether  meant  to  be  literal  statement  or  parable,  as 
a  serious  blunder. 

Jesus  described  the  joining  of  this  procession  as 
^'denying  one's  self."  To  deny  one's  leader  is  to  deny 
the  control  of  the  leader — as  Peter  later  denied  his 
■"Lord."  To  deny  one's  self  is  to  deny  to  one's  self, 
to  one's  selfish  inclinations,  the  right  to  control  choices. 
The  disciple  does  not  yield  to  the  control  of  the  natural 
desire  to  preserve  his  life  at  any  cost,  but  instead 
joins  the  death  procession.  Then  in  v.  35  follows  a 
play  upon  the  word  "life"  in  its  two  senses.  He  who 
is  bound  to  preserve  this  present  bodily  "hfe"  at  any 
cost  will  lose  the  "life"  of  the  New  Age.  Why  to  the 
mind  of  Jesus  should  it  seem  necessary  ever  to  lose  the 


PREPARED  FOR  SUFFERING  123 

bodily  life,  in  order  to  gain  the  higher  immortal  life 
of  the  New  Age?  At  least  a  partial  answer  is  found 
in  the  essential  nature  of  the  life  of  the  New  Age. 
It  is  a  life  in  which  each  man  wishes  for  every  other 
man  such  a  fair  chance  at  all  good  things  as  a  man 
would  wish  his  brother  to  have.  When  a  man  begins 
here  and  now  to  stand  for  this  kind  of  life,  as  Jesus 
did,  he  runs  serious  risk  of  getting  hurt.  If  wherever 
he  finds  a  man  or  any  class  of  men  being  exploited  by 
selfish  men  he  makes  vigorous  protest,  as  Jesus  did, 
he  will  very  probably  suffer  some  serious  loss — perhaps 
the  loss  of  life  itself.  A  case  in  point  would  be  that 
of  a  lawyer  who  proposes,  whenever  he  has  suitable 
opportunity,  to  protect  the  interests  of  any  men  or 
class  of  men  who  are  being  selfishly  exploited  by 
others.  He  runs  the  risk  of  receiving  a  small  in- 
come in  a  profession  in  which  professional  success 
is  often  estimated  in  term.s  of  income.  He  may  con- 
ceivably even  get  into  a  situation  in-  which  he  will  seem 
to  be  an  absolute  failure.  As  it  turned  out,  Jesus,  from 
the  standpoint  of  a  large  element  in  the  Jewish  nation, 
was  an  absolute  failure  as  a  would-be  Messiah. 

Of  course  from  the  standpoint  of  Jesus,  for  any  man 
to  turn  from  such  a  career  meant  the  rupture  of  those 
fundamental  relationships  with  God  and  good  men 
which  constitute  the  immortal  life.  No  conceivable 
gain  could  be  compensation  for  this  terrible  loss. 

2.  The  three  leading  disciples  had  an  experience  v/ith 
Jesus  on  a  mountain  in  the  nighttime,  which  thoroughly 
convinced  them  that  the  spirit  of  the  heavenly  Son  of 
Man  was  in  his  body  (Mark  9:  2-13),  although  it  did 
not  at  all  solve  the  problem  of  his  strange  statements 


124  ABOUT  JESUS 

about  death  and  resurrection.  The  confidence  of  these 
three  leaders  in  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  held  the  rest 
of  the  Twelve  loyally  to  him.  They  all,  began  to  count 
confidently  on  high  offices  in  the  New  Age  (Mark  9: 
33-34).  and  two  of  them,  to  the  disgust  of  the  others, 
tried  to  make  him  promise  beforehand  to  give  them 
precedence  over  all  the  rest  (10:  35-41). 

In  deahng  with  the  disciples  regarding  their  ambition, 
Jesus  took  occasion  again  to  present  in  another  form 
the  idea  discussed  in  the  last  paragraph.  The  man  who 
wished  to  be  really  great  in  the  New  Age  must  not  be 
wishing  for  power  to  bend  the  lives  of  others  to  his 
own  convenience.  Not  what  he  could  succeed  in  mak- 
ing others  contribute  to  him,  but  what  he  could  succeed 
in  contributing  to  others,  would  constitute  the  measure 
of  his  greatness.  He  must  be  "everybody's  bondslave." 
Here,  too,  Jesus  led  the  way  and  set  the  example,  just 
as  he  headed  the  procession  of  men  going  out  to  execu- 
tion (v.  45).  Being  everybody's  bond-slave  does  not, 
of  course,  mean  doing  for  them  what  they  ought  to 
do  for  themselves.  Such  action  would  tend  to  produce 
in  them  the  very  disposition  Jesus  was  protesting 
against.  The  principle  to  be  followed  in  doing  for  an- 
other is  evidently  to  do  for  him  what  will  stimulate 
him  to  responsive  good  will  and  efficient  action,  which 
are  the  essential  elements  in  character.  Neither  is  it 
simply  one  other  man's  interests  that  are  to  be  con- 
sidered. Being  everybody's  bond-slave  meant  working 
for  the  common  good  and  summoning  all  others  to 
do  the  same.  Jesus  not  only  worked  for  the  common 
good  of  mankind  himself  at  great  cost,  but  he  insisted 
that  all  his   disciples   should   unite   with  him   in   doing 


PREPARED  I'OR  SUfPERING  125 

the  same  thing  even  at  the  risk  of  losing  life  (10:  45). 
Such  action  results  in  "ransoming  many."  It  frees 
them  from  the  terrible  forms  of  blighting  bondage 
which  human  selfishness  inflicts  on  society  and  intro- 
duces them  into  that  large  liberty  to  develop  all  their 
normal  powers  which  will  characterize  the  Civilization 
of  Brotherly  Men. 

Questions  : 

How  has  the  violent  death  of  Jesus  actually  worked 
out  larger  liberty  for  men? 

How  would  human  society  be  any  worse  off  if  Jesus 
had  not  died  as  he  did? 

Have  you  known  or  read  of  any  man  whose  death 
has  brought  moral  enlargement  to  your  life? 

Is  there  anything  in  your  conception  of  the  Immortal 
Life  that  would  make  it  seem  worth  while  to  sacrifice 
largely  to  secure  it  either  for  yourself  or  others?  If 
so,  what? 

"If,  for  the  age  to  come,  this  hour 
Of  triol  hath  vicarious  power, 
And,  blest  by  Thee,  our  present  pain 
Be  Liberty's  eternal  gain. 

Thy  will  be  done !" 
— Whittier,  "Thy  Will  Be  Done.'* 


STUDY    XXII 

JUST  OUTSIDE  THE  GATES  OF  JERU- 
SALEM SOME  OF  JESUS'  DISCIPLES 
IN  A  KIND  OF  ACTED  PARABLE  URGE 
MESSIAHSHIP  UPON  HIM 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Matthew  20:29 — 21  :  11  4.  Luke  19:  11-27 

2.  Luke  18:35-43  5-  Luke  19:28-38 

3.  Luke  "19 :  i-io  6.  Luke   19 :  39-44 

7,  John   12  :  12-19 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Mark  10:  i.  And  he  arose  from  thence,  and  cometh 
into  the  borders  of  Jud^a  and  beyond  Jordan:  and 
multitudes  come  together  unto  him  again;  and,  as 
he  was  wont,  he  taught  them  again. 

46.  And  they  come  to  Jericho:  and  as  he  went  out 
from  Jericho,  with  his  disciples  and  a  great  multi- 
tude, the  son  of  Timsus,  Bartimaeus,  a  blind  beggar, 
was  sitting  by  the  way  side.  47.  And  v/hen  he  heard 
that  it  was  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  he  began  to  cry  out, 
and  say,  Jesus,  thou  son  of  David,  have  mercy  on 
me.  48.  And  many  rebuked  him,  that  he  should 
hold  his  peace:  but  he  cried  out  the  more  a  great 
deal.  Thou  son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  me.  49. 
And  Jesus  stood  still,  and  said.  Call  ye  him.  And 
they  call  the  blind  man,  saying  unto  him,  Be  of  good 

129 


130  ABOUT  JESUS 

cheer:  rise,  he  calleth  thee.  50.  And  he,  casting 
away  his  garment,  sprang  up,  and  came  to  Jesus. 
51.  And  Jesus  answered  him,  and  said.  What  wilt 
thou  that  I  should  do  unto  thee?  And  the  blind 
man  said  unto  him,  Rabboni,  that  I  may  receive  my 
sight.  52.  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Go  thy  way; 
thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole.  And  straightway 
he  received  his  sight,  and  followed  him  in  the  way. 
Mark  11:  i.  And  when  they  draw  nigh  unto  Jeru- 
salem, unto  Bethphage  and  Bethany,  at  the  mount 
of  Olives,  he  sendeth  two  of  his  disciples,  2.  and 
saith  unto  them.  Go  your  way  into  the  village 
that  is  over  against  you:  and  straightway  as  ye 
enter  into  it,  ye  shall  find  a  colt  tied,  whereon  no 
man  ever  yet  sat;  loose  him,  and  bring  him.  3.  And 
if  any  one  say  unto  you.  Why  do  ye  this?  say  ye, 
The  Lord  hath  need  of  him;  and  straightway  he  will 
send  him  back  hither.  4.  And  they  went  away,  and 
found  a  colt  tied  at  the  door  without  in  the  open 
street;  and  they  loose  him.  5.  And  certain  of  them 
that  stood  there  said  unto  them,  What  do  ye,  loos- 
ing the  colt?  6.  And  they  said  unto  them  even  as 
Jesus  had  said:  and  they  let  them  go.  7.  And  they 
bring  the  colt  unto  Jesus,  and  cast  on  him  their 
garments;  and  he  sat  upon  him.  8.  And  many  spread 
their  garments  upon  the  way;  and  others  branches, 
which  they  had  cut  from  the  fields,  g.  And  they 
that  went  before,  and  they  that  followed,  cried, 
Hosanna;  blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord:  Blessed  is  the  kingdom  that  cometh,  the 
kingdom  of  our  father  David:  Hosanna  in  the 
highest. 

I.  Jesus  came  out  from  his  comparative  seclusion  and 
began  public  teaching,  though  not  in  Galilee  (10:1). 
He    had   passed    through    Galilee,    but   tried    to   escape 


JESUS  GREETED  AS  MESSIAH  131 

observation— perhaps  by  traveling  in  the  night.  He 
"passed  through  Galilee ;  and  he  would  not  that  any  man 
should  know  it"    (Mark  9:30). 

Now  finally  he  decided  to  appear  boldly  in  Jerusalem, 
the  stronghold  of  the  Great  Scribes.  On  the  last  day  of 
the  journey  to  the  city,  fifteen  miles  away  from  its  gates, 
in  the  city  of  Jericho,  a  significant  incident  occurred. 
As  Jesus  was  just  leaving  Jericho  for  Jerusalem  with 
a  great  company  of  friendly  Passover  pilgrims,  a  man 
who  was  blind  and  a  beggar  suddenly  raised  the  mes- 
sianic cry:  "Jesus,  Son  of  David,  pity  me!"  There  was 
a  fitness  in  the  fact  that  the  cry  came  from  such  a  man, 
for  Jesus  had  been  famous  for  his  devotion  to  the  sick 
and  the  poor.  As  we  have  seen,  Jesus  had  concealed 
his  Messiahship  from  the  public.  He  had  done  so  be- 
cause his  main  purpose  was  to  reform  the  current  con- 
ception of  religion,  of  real  righteousness,  of  the  life  of 
the  New  Age,  and  the  way  to  prepare  for  it.  This 
great  purpose  would  have  been  defeated,  if  Jesus  had 
let  it  be  known  that  he  thought  himself  to  be  the 
Messiah.  People  would  have  crowded  to  him,  expecting 
him  to  do  the  things  they  supposed  a  Messiah  would  do. 
Especially  the  revolutionary  messianists  would  have 
tried  to  use  him.  Jesus  would  have  had  to  disappoint 
all  these  expectations,  and  in  so  doing  would  have  lost 
his  great  chance  to  be  a  teacher  of  true  religion. 
Furthermore,  of  course,  he  would  instantly  have  be- 
come an  object  of  suspicion  to  the  Roman  authorities 
and  would  have  been  hable  to  arrest  at  any  moment. 

But  now  he  seems  to  make  no  objection  to  this  title. 
The  blind  man  was  immediately  cured  and  joined  the 
glad  procession.     All   day   long  as   the  great   company 


132  ABOUT  JESUS 

climbed  the  steep  ascent  to  Jerusalem  the  man  talked 
enthusiastically  to  everybody  about  his  theory  that  Jesus 
was  the  Messiah.  Fortunately,  no  Roman  spies  seem 
to  have  been  in  the  crowd. 

2.  Just  outside  the  city  gates  a  peculiar  demonstration 
was  made  in  which  Jesus  at  least  acquiesced.  To 
many,  probably  to  most  of  the  crowd,  Jesus  was  still 
what  he  always  had  been,  a  great  prophet  of  God. 
When  the  crowd  passed  through  the  city  gates  "all  the 
city  was  stirred  saying,  WIio  is  this  ?"  The  multitudes 
replied :  "This  is  the  prophet,  Jesus,  from  Nazareth  of 
Galilee"  (Matthew  21:11).  There  was,  however,  in 
the  crowd  a  considerable  element  that  shared  the  con- 
viction of  the  blind  beggar — as  of  course  did  Jesus'  own 
disciples,  who  knew  the  messianic  secret.  This  element 
arrange^  an  impromptu  demonstration  with  which  Jesus 
himself  cooperated.  In  a  way  which  suggested  a  cer- 
tain passage  from  the  Old  Testament  prophet,  Zechariah, 
(see  Matthew  21  :  5,  first  supplementary  reading)  Jesus 
mounted  an  ass.  Many  spread  their  coarse  cloaks  in 
the  pathway,  together  with  leafy  twigs  from  wayside 
trees.  According  to  Matthew  and  Luke,  they  hailed 
Jesus  as  Messiah.  Their  language,  according  to  Mark, 
was  not  quite  so  explicit.  The  whole  afifair  was  a  kind 
of  acted  parable  not  sufficiently  formal  and  explicit  to 
attract  the  attention  of  Roman  officials,  who  would  have 
had  soldiers  on  the  spot  quickly  if  the  procession  had 
entered  the  city  gates  with  any  open  proclamation  of 
Jesus  as  messianic  King.  It  was  all  over  in  a  few  mo- 
ments. The  borrowed  ass  was  sent  back  to  its  owner. 
The  pilgrims  picked  up  their  dirty  cloaks  and  traveled 
on. 


JESUS  GREETED  AS  MESSIAH  133 

3.  Why  did  Jesus,  who  had  so  insistently  urged 
secrecy,  encourage  this  demonstration?  He  had  done 
his  work  as  a  teacher  of  true  rehgion.  He  had  long 
felt  that  the  crisis  was  coming  in  Jerusalem  and  he 
had  no  longer  any  disposition  to  delay  it.  This  demon- 
stration, ludicrous  as  it  may  have  seemed  to  a  casual 
observer,  gave  expression  to  some  of  the  deepest  emo- 
tions in  Jesus'  heart.  He  was  a  poor  man's  Messiah,  in 
the  midst  of  his  poor,  not  riding  on  a  war  horse,  nor 
with  soldiers  all  about  him.  Yet  he  was  coming  to  his 
capital  city,  to  the  temple  of  Jehovah,  clothed  in  his 
heart  with  a  sense  of  authority  from  God  to  make  true 
religion  universal  and  secure  in  the  civilization  of  the 
world. 

4.  It  is  to  be  noted  also  that  according  to  Luke's 
Gospel  (third  supplementary  reading),  while  Jesus  was 
still  in  Jericho  he  had  given  a  most  flagrant  and  con- 
spicuous illustration  of  the  same  disposition  that  had  so 
enraged  the  Scribes  in  Galilee.  He  had  gone  openly  to 
the  house  of  a  rich  Jericho  publican  and  actually  lodged 
over  night  with  him.  This  would,  of  course,  be  in- 
stantly reported  to  the  Great  Scribes  in  Jerusalem. 
Jesus  was  determined  that  they  should  fully  understand 
his  convictions.  There  was  an  infinite  force  and  a  fire 
of  moral  conviction  within  his  soul. 

Questions  : 

Think  out  the  conversation  that  might  have  taken 
place  between  the  blind  beggar  Bartimeus  and  the  rich 
publican  Zacchseus  after  each  had  had  his  experience 
with  Jesus  in  Jericho ! 

What  do  you  imagine  to  have  been  the  main  thoughts 


134  ABOUT  JESUS 

in  the  mind  of  Jesus  as  he  reviewed  the  events  of  this 
day  at  its  close? 
What  thoughts  were  in  the  mind  of  Peter? 

*'Once  to  every  man  and  nation  comes  the  moment  to 

decide, 
In  the  strife  of  Truth  with  Falsehood,  for  the  good  or 

evil  side; 
Some  great  cause,  God's  new  Messiah,  offering  each  the 

bloom  or  blight. 
Parts  the  goats  upon  the  left  hand,  and  the  sheep  upon 

the  right, 
And  the  choice  goes  by  forever  'twixt  that  darkness  and 

that   light." 

— Lowell,  "The  Present  Crisis." 


STUDY    XXIII 

JESUS'  PUBLIC  ATTACK  ON  THE 
PRIESTS  FOR  ABUSES  IN  THE 
TEMPLE  ADMINISTRATION  RESULTS 
IN  A  POWERFUL  COMBINATION  OF 
PRIESTS  AND  SCRIBES  AGAINST  HIM 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Mark  12:   1-12  4-  Mark  12:  28-37 

2.  Mark  12:  13-17  5-  Mark  12:  41-44 

3.  Mark  12:   18-27  6.  Matthew  23:  1-22 

7.  Matthew  23:  23-39 

Passages  for  Study: 

Mark  11:  11.  And  he  entered  into  Jerusalem,  into 
the  temple;  and  when  he  had  looked  round  about 
upon  all  things,  it  being  nov/  eventide,  he  went  out 
unto  Bethany  with  the  twelve. 

15.  And  they  come  to  Jerusalem:  and  he  entered 
into  the  temple,  and  began  to  cast  out  them  that 
sold  and  them  that  bought  in  the  temple,  and 
overthrew  the  tables  of  the  money-changers,  and  the 
seats  of  them  that  sold  the  doves;  16.  and  he  would 
not  suiler  that  any  man  should  carry  a  vessel 
through  the  temple.  17.  And  he  taught,  and  said 
unto  them,  Is  it  not  written.  My  house  shall  be 
called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  the  nations?  but  ye 

135 


130  ABOUT  JESUS 

have  made  it  a  den  of  robbers.  i8.  And  the  chief 
priests  and  the  scribes  heard  it,  and  sought  how 
they  might  destroy  him:  for  they  feared  him,  for 
all  the  multitude  was  astonished  at  his  teaching. 

27.  And  they  come  again  to  Jerusalem:  and  as  he 
was  walking  in  the  temple,  there  come  to  him  the 
chief  priests,  and  the  scribes,  and  the  elders;  28. 
and  they  said  unto  him,  By  what  authority  doest 
thou  these  things?  or  who  gave  thee  this  authority 
to  do  these  things?  29.  And  Jesus  said  unto  them, 
I  will  ask  of  you  one  question,  and  answer  me, 
and  I  will  tell  you  by  what  authority  I  do  these 
things.  30.  The  baptism  of  John,  was  it  from  heaven, 
or  from  men?  answer  me.  31.  And  they  reasoned 
with  themselves,  saying.  If  we  shall  say.  From 
heaven;  he  will  say.  Why  then  did  ye  not  believe 
him?  32.  But  should  we  say.  From  men — they  feared 
the  people:  for  all  verily  held  John  to  be  a  prophet. 
33.  And  they  answered  Jesus  and  say.  We  know  not. 
And  Jesus  saith  unto  them.  Neither  tell  I  you  by 
what  authority  I  do  these  things. 

Mark  12:  38.  And  in  his  teaching  he  said,  Beware 
of  the  scribes,  which  desire  to  walk  in  long  robes, 
and  to  have  salutations  in  the  marketplaces,  39.  and 
chief  seats  in  the  synagogues,  and  chief  places  at 
feasts:  40.  they  which  devour  widows'  houses,  and 
for  a  pretence  make  long  prayers;  these  shall  receive 
greater  condemnation. 

I,  The  great  company  of  Passover  pilgrims,  after 
their  harmless  demonstration  outside  the  city,  went 
with  eager  curiosity  and  devotion  to  Jehovah's  House. 
The  Temple  was  a  comparatively  small  building,  but 
the  extensive  paved  courts  and  beautiful  colonnades 
about  it  occupied  a  large  section  on  the  eastern  side 
of  the  city,  which  was  separated  from  the  rest  of  the 


JESUS  ATTACKS  TEMPLE  ABUSES        137 

city  by  a  high  wall.  As  Jesus  walked  about  in  these 
great  open  courts  he  saw  things  that  seemed  to  him 
scandalous.  There  were  hundreds  of  crates  of  doves 
and,  according  to  John's  Gospel,  also  sheep  and  oxen 
ready  for  sale  to  worshipers,  for  sacrifice.  Since  these 
market  men  must  have  been  there  by  permission  of  the 
priests,  very  possibl}--  doves  and  animals  bought  from 
them  would  be  guaranteed  to  pass  the  inspection  of  the 
priests.  There  were  also  money  changers  with  piles 
of  coins  on  their  tables,  ready  to  change  monej^  brought 
from  abroad   into  current  coin. 

This  whole  proceeding  seemed  to  Jesus  to  be  defeat- 
ing the  purpose  of  the  place.  The  Tem.ple  was  meant 
to  be  a  place  to  which  people  could  come  from  all  over 
the  world  to  pray  to  Jehovah.  When,  after  a  long  and 
expensive  journey  by  land  and  sea,  they  finally  reached 
the  place,  they  found  a  situation  which  made  quiet 
prayer  almost  impossible.  There  was  not  only  the  noisy 
excited  conversation  incident  to  oriental  bargaining, 
but  these  dealers  were  also  shamelessly  cheating  many 
of  the  foreigners  and  poorer  pilgrims.  The  holy  place 
was  no  better  than  a  cave  which  had  been  made  head- 
quarters for  a  gang  of  robbers !  In  the  bitterness  of 
spirit  v/hich  prevailed  when  visitors  found  that  they 
had  been  cheated,  how  could  men  devoutly  pray! 
(v.  17). 

As  Jesus  thought  over  the  circumstances  at  his  lodg- 
ings, in  the  Bethany  suburb  of  the  city,  he  decided  that 
he  would  break  this  situation  up  the  next  morning. 
Accordingly  when  he  arrived  at  the  Temple,  he  went 
about  among  the  market  men  and  insisted  on  their 
leaving.    He  went  rapidly  about,  tipping  over  the  money 


138  ABOUT  JESUS 

changers'  tables  and  sending  their  carefully  piled  coins 
rolling  in  every  direction  on  the  pavement.  According 
to  John's  Gospel,  he  himself  hurried  the  sheep  and  oxen 
out  with  a  Vv^hip.  It  was  not  safe  to  oppose  him,  for 
he  was  known  to  be  a  popular  prophet  with  a  great 
following  among  the  people,  who  had  long  been  exas- 
perated by  the  frauds  perpetrated  upon  them.  Jesus 
also  stationed  men  at  gates  leading  into  the  temple 
courts  to  turn  back  any  carrying  jars  or  other  burdens 
who  were  utilizing  these  courts  as  a  short  cut  to  or 
from  the  eastern  suburbs.  He  proposed  to  make  all 
the  surroundings  of  the  Temple  conducive  to  prayer. 

Jesus  not  only  took  this  decisive  action,  but  he 
"taught"  (v.  17),  that  is,  he  gave  a  public  lecture,  or 
address,  to  crow^ds  of  people  on  the  mal-administration 
of  the  Temple  by  the  Priests !  This  bold  action  led 
the  Priests,  who  up  to  this  time  have  not  appeared  in 
the  narrative,  to  combine  with  the  Scribes  who  had,  of 
course,  long  been  bitterly  hostile  to  Jesus.  There  was 
ordinarily  no  particular  cordiality  existing  between  the 
great  men  of  the  Temple  and  the  great  men  of  the 
synagogue,  but  no  one  could  tell  to  what  lengths  the 
People's  Prophet  might  be  tempted  to  go  and  it  was 
necessary  to  make  common  cause  against  him  (v.  18). 

2.  The  next  day  a  committee  consisting  of  Priests, 
Scribes,  and  other  members  of  the  chief  court  of  the 
nation  met  Jesus  and  informally  asked  him  by  what 
authority  he  had  presumed  to  meddle  with  temple  ar- 
rangements the  day  before  (vs.  27-28). 

Jesus  replied  in  a  way  not  unusual  among  rabbis,  by 
asking  a  counter-question — namely,  by  what  authority 
they  understood  John  the  Baptist  to  have  acted.     This 


JESUS  ATTACKS  TEMPLE  ABUSES       139 

was  a  very  pertinent  question  for  several  reasons.  John 
had  presumed  to  call  the  nation  to  repentance  and  bap- 
tism in  view  of  the  nearness  of  the  New  Age,  an 
action  on  his  part  which  invaded  the  prerogacive  of 
the  Scribes,  just  as  Jesus'  action  the  day  before  had 
encroached  upon  the  authority  of  the  Priests.  Further- 
more, in  asking  their  opinion  of  John  he  was  virtually 
asking  them  their  opinion  of  himself,  for  he  identified 
himself  with  John's  movement.  The  question,  too,  was 
a  searching  one,  for  it  showed  them  that  they  were 
cowards  and  no  true  leaders  of  the  people ;  they  did 
not  dare  to  say  outright  what  they  thought  (v.  31). 

Then  in  a  very  suggestive  allegory  (first  supplemen- 
tary reading),  without  sajang  anything  about  his  own 
Messiahship,  he  went  on  to  imply  that  they  had  always 
been  killing  prophets  and  would  not  shrink  from  kill- 
ing the  messianic  Son  of  God  whenever  he  might  ap- 
pear. They  were  thoroughly  selfish  men,  who  would 
have  no  welcome  for  God's  Messiah.  The  Priests  were 
so  well  satisfied  with  large  revenues  and  political  power 
under  the  Romans,  and  the  Scribes  so  well  satisfied 
with  the  prestige  of  theological  and  social  leadership 
that  a  Messiah  introducing  another  social  order  would 
be  an  unwelcome  intruder. 

3.  In  these  last  tense  days  Jesus  in  his  public  lectur- 
ing (12:38)  boldly  exposed  the  weak  points  of  the 
Great  Scribes  in  order  to  break  up  if  possible  the  arti- 
ficial sham  religion  that  they  were  trying  to  perpetuate 
among  the  people.  They  liked  to  walk  about  in  digni- 
fied clothing,  watching  for  deferential  greetings  in  the 
market.  They  liked  to  have  greater  honor  than  others 
in  the  arrangements  for  seating  at  dinner  parties  and 


^o  *         ABOUT  JESUS 

in  the  synagogues.  They  were  eager  to  get  money  from 
rich  susceptible  widows  who  were  imposed  upon  by 
their  pious  ways,  or  from  poor  widows  in  return  for 
their  pious  ministrations.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  such 
conduct  would  arouse  the  indignation  of  a  red-blooded 
working  man  !  Jesus  predicted  for  them  a  severe  ver- 
dict in  the  judgment  day  (v.  40). 

Questions  : 

Suppose  that  Jesus  should  meet  the  statesmen  of  a 
present  day  nation  at  its  capital — what  would  be  the 
main  features  of  the  ideal  of  national  life  that  he  would 
present? 

What  would  be  the  main  features  of  church  life  in 
the  ideal  that  he  would  present,  to  the  leaders  of  the 
present  day  church? 

What  place  would  Jesus  give  to  prayer  in  the  develop- 
ment of  national  life? 

"God  give  us  men  !     The  time  demands 
Strong    minds,    great    hearts,    true    faith    and    willing 

hands. 
Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy; 
Men  who  possess   opinions  and  a  will ; 

Men  who  have  honor ;  men  who  will  not  lie." 

—J.  G.  Holland,  "The  Need  for  Men." 


STUDY    XXIV 

THE  PRIESTS  AND  SCRIBES  SECURE  A 
CONFEDERATE  AMONG  THE  TWELVE, 
BUT  JESUS  SUCCEEDS  IN  GATHERING 
THE  TWELVE  FOR  A  SOLEMN  LAST 
MEAL  TOGETHER  BEFORE  THE 
TRAITOR  ACTS 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Mark  13:  1-23  4.  Matthew  20:  17-29 

2.  Mark  13  :  24-36  5.  Luke  22  :  3-30 

3.  Matthew  26:  6-16  6.  John  12:1-8 

7.  I  Corinthians  11 :  17-34 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Mark  14:  i.  Now  after  two  days  was  the  feast  of 
the  passover  and  the  unleavened  bread:  and  the 
chief  priests  and  the  scribes  sought  how  they  might 
take  him  with  subtilty,  and  kill  him:  for  they  ssid, 
2.  Not  during  the  feast,  lest  haply  there  shall  be 
a  tumult  of  the  people. 

10.  And  Judas  Iscariot,  he  that  was  one  of  the 
twelve,  went  away  unto  the  chief  priests,  that  he 
r-ight  deliver  him  unto  them.  11.  And  they,  when 
they  heard  it,  were  glad,  and  promised  to  give  him 
money.  And  he  sought  how  he  might  conveniently 
deliver  him  unto  them. 

141 


^  '        ABOUT  JESUS 

17.  And  when  it  was  evening  he  cometh  with  the 
twelve.  18.  And  as  they  sat  and  were  eating,  Jesus 
said,  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  One  of  you  shall  be- 
tray me,  even  he  that  eateth  with  me.  19.  They 
began  to  be  sorrowful,  and  to  say  unto  him  one  by 
one.  Is  it  I?  20.  And  he  said  unto  them.  It  is  one 
of  the  twelve,  he  that  dippeth  with  me  in  the  dish. 
21.  For  the  Son  of  man  goeth,  even  as  it  is  written 
of  him:  but  woe  unto  that  man  through  whom  the 
Son  of  man  is  betrayed!  good  were  it  for  that  man 
if  he  had  not  been  born.  22.  And  as  they  were 
eating,  he  took  bread,  and  when  he  had  blessed, 
he  brake  it,  and  gave  to  them,  and  said.  Take  ye: 
this  is  my  body.  23.  And  he  took  a  cup,  and  when 
he  had  given  thanks,  he  gave  to  them:  and  they  all 
drank  of  it.  24.  And  he  said  unto  them.  This  is 
my  blood  of  the  covenant,  which  is  shed  for  many. 
25.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  no  more  drink  of 
the  fruit  of  the  vine,  until  that  day  when  I  drink 
it  new  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

I.  The  Priests  and  Scribes  were  thoroughly  alarmed. 
Jesus'  bold  action  and  public  speeches  in  the  temple 
courts  indicated  to  their  minds  that  he  was  planning  to 
head  some  popular  movement  against  them.  There  were 
only  two  more  days  before  the  week  of  the  Passover 
Festival  would  begin,  when  the  city  would  be  filled  with 
tens  of  thousands  of  visitors,  many  of  them  friends  of 
Jesus.  It  would  be  unsafe  to  attack  him  during  that 
week  and  yet  it  was  unsafe  to  leave  him  free  to  utilize 
the  opportunity  for  action  presented  by  Passover  Week. 
It  seemed  necessary  to  get  rid  of  him  before  the  week 
began,  but  this  could  be  done  only  by  strategy.  Just  at 
this  juncture  help  came  from  a  most  unexpected  source 
— one    of    the    inner    circle    of    Jesus'    disciples.      They 


THE  TRAITOR  AMONG  THE  TWELVE    143 

needed  exactly  such  a  confederate,  one  who  could  lead 
Jesus  quietly  out  for  a  walk  to  some  lonely  spot  where 
officers  would  be  in  waiting  to  arrest  him,  and  who 
would  then  go  back  to  the  disciples  with  some  story 
that  would  satisfactorily  explain  his  absence.  The  court 
would  rush  his  trial  and  execution  through  before  his 
friends  could  know  what  was  happening.  Furthermore, 
if  afterward  there  should  be  any  popular  indignation  at 
their  action,  they  could  protect  themselves  by  saying 
that  Jesus  had  really  been  guilty  of  something  so 
horrible  that  even  one  of  his  own  table  companions  had 
felt  obliged  to  break  away  from  the  sacred  relation  of 
that  companionship  and  hand  him  over  to  the  author- 
ities. 

2.  What  led  Judas  to  betray  his  table  companion,  a 
thing  so  abhorrent  to  the  eastern  mind  (vs.  18,  20)  ? 
Something  in  the  incident  described  in  Mark  14:3-9 
(or  the  third  supplementary  reading)  seems  to  have 
furnished  the  immediate  provocation,  though  the  funda- 
mental reason  probably  lay  further  back.  In  that  inci- 
dent Jesus  has  seemed  to  be  gloomy  and  sentimental, 
welcoming  the  extravagant  expenditure  made  by  a  wo- 
man for  perfume  to  pour  on  his  head,  and  talking 
pathetically  about  his  death  and  burial!  He  seemed  to 
Judas  to  lack  the  genius  requisite  for  a  great  world 
statesman.  Furthermore,  he  had  said  that  rich  people 
would  find  no  place  in  the  New  Order,  a  view  of  things 
which  according  to  John's  Gospel  (sixth  supplementary 
reading)  was  contrary  to  Judas'  fundamental  ambition. 
Angry  over  the  time  and  money  he  had  v/asted  in  dis- 
cipleship,  he  decided  to  get  what  compensation  he  could 
and  cut  loose  fram  the  wretched  movement. 


144  ABOUT  JESUS 

3.  Jesus  knew  what  Judas  was  doing,  though  none  of 
Judas'  fellow-disciples  did,  and  was  exceedingly  anxious 
to  eat  with  his  disciples  before  Judas  should  find  oppor- 
tunity to  do  his  dastardly  deed.  ("And  he  said  unto 
them.  With  desire  have  I  desired  to  eat  this  Passover 
with  you  before  I  suffer.")  In  order  to  accomplish  this, 
he  arranged  for  this  Last  Supper  in  such  a  way  that 
only  he  and  two  of  his  most  trusted  disciples  should 
know  the  place,  until  he  brought  them  to  it  in  the  even- 
ing (fifth  supplementary  reading). 

4.  While  they  were  eating,  Jesus  in  great  sorrow  spoke 
of  the  fact  that  one  of  his  table  companions — whom  he 
did  not  mention  by  name — was  planning  to  betray  him, 
and  described  the  consequences  of  the  act  in  solemn 
language  that  was  a  virtual  appeal  to  Judas  not  to  do 
it  (vs.  20-21).  Then  Jesus  went  through  a  solemn  cere- 
mony with  loaf  and  cup  that  has  been  full  of  deep 
significance  since  the  earliest  days  of  the  Christian 
Church.  He  broke  a  loaf,  or  wafer,  of  bread  into  pieces 
which,  after  solemnly  asking  God's  blessing,  he  asked 
them  to  eat  as  his  body.  He  took  a  cup  of  red  wine 
and,  after  giving  solemn  thanks  to  God,  asked  them  to 
drink  it  as  his  blood,  blood  which  would  bind  them  tq 
God  in  a  solemn  "blood  covenant."  This  would  be  the 
New  Covenant,  which  men  were  expecting  to  enter  into 
with  God  in  the  New  Age  (Jeremiah  31  :  31-34.)  The 
Old  Covenant,  also  a  "blood  covenant,"  was  entered  into 
at  Mt.  Sinai  (Exodus  24:  4-8). 

These  symbols  of  a  body  broken  and  of  life  blood 
poured  out  at  the  threshold  of  the  New  Age  had  mean- 
ings to  the  Eastern  mind  that  we  men  of  the  West  do 
not  immediately  understand.     To  us  the  great  question 


THE  TRAITOR  AMONG  THE  TWELVE     145 

here,  as  in  Studies  XX  and  XXI,  concerns  the  influence 
of  the  death  of  Jesus  on  the  life  of  the  world. 

Jesus'  mind,  though  full  of  the  thought  of  his  death, 
saw  with  perfect  clearness  victory  beyond  death.  The 
messianic  reign  in  the  New  Age  was  often  pictured  as 
a  triumphant  messianic  banquet.  In  v.  25  Jesus  had 
this  in  mind  when  he  pledged  himself  never  to  taste 
wine  again  until  the  New  Age  had  begun  and  they 
should  meet  again  at  the  messianic  banquet.  The  wine 
v/ould  be  "new"  because  everything  was  to  be  "new"  in 
the  New  Age.  ("I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth." 
"Behold,  I  make  all  things  new."    Revelation  21  :  i,  5.) 

5.  It  is  only  in  Luke's  Gospel  (22 :  19,  fifth  supple- 
mentary reading)  and  I  Corinthians  11:24  (seventh 
supplementary  reading)  that  Jesus  is  distinctly  repre- 
sented to  have  urged  the  repetition  of  this  ceremony. 
Perhaps  in  the  circles  in  which  the  Gospels  of  Matthew 
and  Mark  were  formed,  it  was  assumed  that  Jesus 
would  be  understood  by  the  readers  to  have  meant  to 
institute  an  ordinance,  for  the  Christians  in  very  early 
days  seem  to  have  had  a  sacred  meal  eaten,  perhaps 
for  a  time  daily  (Acts  2:46),  with  thought  of  their 
Lord. 

Questions  : 

What  seem  to  you  to  have  been  the  motives  from 
which  Judas  acted  when  he  violated  the  sacred  rela- 
tionship? 

What  do  you  think  Jesus  m.eant  by  calling  the  broken 
loaf  his  body  and  the  wine  his   blood? 

If  you  are  a  communicant,  what  advantage  do  you 
find  in  the  observance  of  the  "Lord's  Supper"? 


146  ABOUT  JESUS 

What  seem  to  you  to  be  the  grounds  for  entire  con- 
fidence— like  the  confidence  of  Jesus — that  the  suffering 
of  humanity  will  be  followed  by  an  era  of  liberty  and 
peace? 

Jesus  felt  that  he  was  being  borne  on  by  the  will  of 
God  into  an  experience  of  great  suffering  that  would 
finally  bring  righteousness  and  peace  to  all  the  zvorld. 
It  was  also  the  zvill  of  God  that  he  should  take  his  dis- 
ciples zvith  him  into  some  measure  of  this  experience. 
This  ivas  at  least  a  part  of  the  meaning  of  his  asking 
them  to  eat  his  suffering  body  and  to  drink  his  very 
blood.  It  is  not  simply  a  ceremony  to  perform,  but  an 
experience  to  reproduce^  that  we  have  inherited. 


STUDY  XXV 

JESUS  AFTER  A  SHORT  PERIOD  OF 
GREAT  MENTAL  DISTRESS  IS  PLACED 
UNDER  ARREST  IN  THE  NIGHT  BY 

HIS  ene:\iies  and  goes  without 

RESISTANCE  TO  A  HURRIED  TRIAL 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Matthew  26:  30-46  4.  Luke  22.'.  47-53 

2.  Luke  22:  39-46  5.  Mark  14:  27-31 

3.  Matthew  26:  47-56  6.  John  18:  1-14 

7.  Hebrews  4 :  14 — 5  :  10 

Passages  for  Study: 

Mark  14:  26.  And  when  they  had  sung  a  hymn, 
they  went  out  unto  the  mount  of  OHves. 

32.  And  they  come  unto  a  place  which  was  named 
Gethsemane:  and  he  saith  unto  his  disciples,  Sit  ye 
here,  while  I  pray.  33.  And  he  taketh  with  him 
Peter  and  James  and  John,  and  began  to  be  greatly 
amazed,  and  sore  troubled.  34.  And  he  saith  unto 
them,  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful  even  unto 
death:  abide  ye  here,  and  watch.  35.  And  he  went 
forward  a  little,  and  fell  on  the  ground,  and  prayed 
that,  if  it  were  possible,  the  hour  might  pass  away 
from  him.  36.  And  he  said,  Abba,  Father,  all  things 
are  possible  unto  thee;  remove  this  cup  from  me: 
howbeit  not  what  I  will,  but  what  thou  wilt.     37. 

147 


148  ABOUT  JESUS 

And  he  cometh,  and  findeth  them  sleeping,  and  saith 
unto  Peter,  Simon,  sleepest  thou?  couldst  thou  not 
watch  one  hour?  38.  Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter 
not  into  temptation:  the  spirit  indeed  is  wilHng,  but 
the  flesh  is  weak.  39.  And  again  he  went  away, 
and  prayed,  saying  the  same  words.  40.  And  again 
he  came,  and  found  them  sleeping,  for  their  eyes 
were  very  heavy;  and  they  wist  not  what  to  answer 
him.  41.  And  he  cometh  the  third  time,  and  saith 
unto  them.  Sleep  on  now,  and  take  your  rest:  it  is 
enough;  the  hour  is  come;  behold,  the  Son  of  man 
is  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  sinners.  42.  Arise,  let 
us  be  going:  behold,  he  that  betrayeth  me  is  at  hand. 
43.  And  straightway,  while  he  yet  spake,  cometh 
Judas,  one  of  the  twelve,  and  with  him  a  multitude 
with  swords  and  staves,  from  the  chief  priests  and 
the  scribes  and  the  eiders.  44.  Now  he  that  betrayed 
him  had  given  them  a  token,  saying.  Whomsoever 
I  shall  kiss,  that  is  he;  take  him,  and  lead  him  away 
safely.  45.  And  when  he  was  come,  straightway 
he  came  to  him,  and  saith.  Rabbi;  and  kissed  him. 
46.  And  they  laid  hands  on  him,  and  took  him.  47. 
But  a  certain  one  of  them  that  stood  by  drew  his 
sword,  and  smote  the  servant  of  the  high  priest, 
and  struck  off  his  ear.  48.  And  Jesus  answered  and 
said  unto  them.  Are  ye  come  out,  as  against  a  rob- 
ber, with  swords  and  staves  to  seize  me?  49.  I 
was  daily  with  you  in  the  temple  teaching,  and  ye 
took  me  not:  but  this  is  done  that  the  scriptures 
might  be  fulfilled.  50.  And  they  all  left  him,  and 
fled. 

I.  Judas  seems  to  have  slipped  out  from  the  Last 
Supper  as  soon  as  he  could  and  hurried  away  to  the 
Priests  and  Scribes.  Perhaps  he-  came  back  again  to 
the  same  place,  with  a  company  of  temple  police.     If 


ARREST  AND  TRIAL  OF  JESUS  14^ 

so,  he  found  that  Jesus  had  left  and  in  some  way  he 
knew  where  he  would  probably  find  him. 

Jesus  had  gone  to  a  "garden"  which,  according  to 
John's  Gospel  (sixth  supplementary  reading),  he  often 
visited.  Here  he  divided  his  disciples  into  two  groups, 
an  outer  group  and,  farther  on  in  the  garden  nearer 
himself,  his  three  special  friends.  The  first  group  was 
perhaps  to  watch  for  the  approach  of  the  enemy  and 
the  second  to  afford  Jesus  sympathetic  support  in  a 
certain  terrible  experience  into  which  he  found  himself 
entering.  It  was  an  experience  in  which  he  needed  to 
have  friends  near  by,  while  he  pressed  on  beyond  them 
to'  be  face  to  face  with  God.  The  three  men  were 
sleep}''.  It  was  late  at  night  and  two  of  them  had  been 
busy  the  preceding  day  making  preparations  for  the 
Last  Supper.  But  before  they  fell  asleep  they  saw 
Jesus  fall  on  his  face  in  prayer  and  in  the  stillness  of 
the  night  heard  the  words  that  he  uttered.  Three  times 
in  the  intensity  of  his  feeling  he  went  back  and  forth 
between  the  place  where  he  pra3'ed  and  the  friends  from 
whom  he  expected  sympathy,  but  whom  he  found  sleep- 
ing. Then  suddenly  flickering  torches  and  hurried 
footsteps  in  the  distance  showed  that  the  arresting  party 
vv'as  near,  Jesus'  long  time  table  companion  in  the  lead, 

2.  The  intensely  significant  question  that  confronts 
us  here  concerns  the  nature  and  cause  of  Jesus'  ex- 
treme distress  of  mind.  He  described  it  as  an^  extreme 
sorrow  that  seemed  like  death  to  him :  "My  soul  is 
exceeding  sorrowful  even  unto  death."  It  vvas  a  kind 
of  distress  of  spirit  that  almost  frightened  him.  The 
expression  "amazed"  is  used  in  the  same  sense  to  de- 
scribe the  emotion  of  the  women  when  they  saw  the 


150  ABOUT  JESUS 

angel  at  the  empty  grave  of  Jesus  (Mark  i6:  5).  There 
seems  to  have  been  some  impending  distress  into 
vi^hich  he  was  already  entering  and  which  he  wished 
to  be  spared  further  experience  of,  if  it  could  in  any 
way  be  God's  will.  It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  a  sense 
of  the  disgrace  of  being  betrayed  by  a  table  companion 
and  sorrow  over  the  moral  ruin  of  this  chosen  friend 
were  in  his  mind.  The  physical  suffering  of  crucifixion 
he  may  have  dreaded,  though  many  martyrs  have  faced 
great  suffering  without  exhibiting  such  distress.  Per- 
haps it  is  idle  to  try  to  penetrate  in  imagination  into 
the  consciousness  of  Jesus.  But  one  or  two  things 
seem  to  stand  out  clearly.  This  distress  of  mind  v^s 
the  suffering  of  a  Messiah,  and  of  a  Messiah  to  whom 
Messiahship  was  not  an  "office"  but  a  profound  personal 
relationship  to  the  Heavenly  Father  and  to  his  human 
brothers.  He  had  thought  of  his  blood  as  "covenant 
blood"  binding  men  and  God  together.  His  passion 
in  life  had  been  to  see  the  earth  filled  with  men  who, 
with  unselfish  spirits,  would  love  God  and  each  other. 
The  great  pain  of  his  spirit,  therefore,  would  naturally 
be  over  the  wrong  doing  of  men  who  refused  to  love 
God  and  each  other.  Such  wrong  doing  was  in  pro- 
cess of  reaching  its  most  flagrant  expression.  It  does 
not  seem  too  much  to  say,  therefore,  that  Jesus  was 
now  beginning  to  feel  the  sorrow  of  the  Infinite  Father 
over  the  wrong  doing  of  His  human  children.  One 
element  in  the  mysterious  consciousness  of  God  we 
may  suppose  to  be  distress  over  the  evil  conduct  of 
the  children  whom  he  loves.  This  element  was  begin- 
ning to  rise  in  the  heart  of  Jesus  and  it  seemed  more 
than   he  could   endure.     Jesus   must   have   often   faced 


ARREST  AND  TRIAL  OF  JESUS  151 

the  wrong  doing  of  men,  but  never  before  had  God 
so  laid  upon  him  the  burden  of  feehng  as  God  himself 
feels  about  human  sin.  The  utmost  that  a  father  can 
do  to  redeem  a  child  from  bondage  to  an  evil  life  is 
to  show  the  child  how  the  father's  heart  feels  about 
his  evil  life.  Rising  up  in  Jesus,  the  Spirit  of  the 
Heavenly  Father's  heart  made  an  everlasting  revela- 
tion of  itself  in  the  suffering  soul  of  Jesus.  "God  was 
in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,"  was  later 
said  by   one   of   Jesus'   great   disciples    (11'  Corinthians 

5:  19). 

3.  Jesus  received  strength  to  meet  "the  hour,"  What 
he  said  to  his  disciples  when  he  came  to  them  the  last 
time  was  perhaps  this :  "Are  you  then  sleeping  and 
taking  your  rest!  Enough  (of  sleep)!  The  hour  is 
come!"  This  arousing  summons  brought  them  spring- 
ing to  their  feet.  "Arise,  let  us  be  going!"  Then 
came  the  table  companion  straight  to  Jesus  and  re- 
peatedly and  affectionately  kissed  him !  Jesus  protested 
indignantly  against  the  cowardly  manner  of  his  arrest. 
They  had  come  out  with  knives  and  clubs  in  the  night, 
as  if  he  were  a  robber,  instead  of  boldly  arresting 
him  while  he  was  addressing  the  public  in  the  temple 
courts.  Jesus  recognized  in  their  conduct  not  only 
cowardice  but  a  distinct  purpose,  which  will  appear 
later  also,  to  cheapen  him — to  treat  him  not  as  a  false 
prophet  or  a  spurious  Messiah  but  as  a  cheap  criminal. 

The  disciples  all  slipped  away  among  the  trees  in  the 
darkness  1 

Questions  : 
What  were  the  disciples  to  watch  for  and  what  to 


152  ABOUT  JESUS 

pray  for  (v.  38)?  What  "temptation"  did  Jesus  have 
in  mind? 

What  did  he  mean  by  the  "spirit"  being  "wilhng"? 
WilHng  to  what?    What  did  he  mean  by  the  "flesh"? 

What  do  you  think  were  the  "cup"  and  the  "hour" 
that  Jesus  wished  to  be  spared?  Did  God  spare  him, 
and,  if  not,  why  not? 

What  was  Jesus'  chief  concern? 

''Slcepest  thou?"  {v.  37).  It  may  he  that  our  Lord 
still  has  times  of  special  divine  suffering  over  specially 
flagrant  manifestations  of  human  hate  and  treachery. 
At  such  times  his  disciples  who  are  "alive  to  God"  must 
not  be  found  sleeping. 


STUDY    XXVI 

JESUS  IS  CONDE^IXED  TO  DEATH  BY 
THE  JEWISH  COURT  AS  A  BLASPHEM- 
OUS FALSE  CHRIST  AND  THE  ROMAN 
PROCURATOR  RELUCTANTLY  EN- 
DORSES THE  SENTENCE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Matthew  26 :  57-75  4.  Luke  22, :  1-25 

2.  Matthew  27:  1-26  5.  Mark  15:  16-20 

3.  Luke  22 :  54-71  6.  John  18 :  28-40 

7.  John  19:  1-16 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Mark  14:  53.  And  they  led  Jesus  away  to  the  high 
priest:  and  there  come  together  with  him  all  the 
chief  priests  and  the  elders  and  the  scribes. 

55.  Now  the  chief  priests  and  the  whole  council 
sought  witness  against  Jesus  to  put  him  to  death; 
and  found  it  not.  56.  For  many  bare  false  witness 
against  him,  and  their  witness  agreed  not  together. 
57.  And  there  stood  up  certain,  and  bare  false  wit- 
ness against  him,  saying,  58.  We  heard  him  say,  I 
will  destroy  this  temple  that  is  made  with  hands, 
and  in  three  days  I  will  build  another  made  without 
hands.  59.  And  not  even  so  did  their  vy'itness  agree 
together.     60,  And  the  high  priest  stood  up  in  the 

153 


154  ABOUT  JESUS 

midst,  and  asked  Jesus,  saying,  Answerest  thou 
nothing?  what  is  it  which  these  witness  against  thee? 
-6i.  But  he  held  his  peace,  and  answered  nothing. 
Again  the  high  priest  asked  him,  and  saith  unto 
him.  Art  thou  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Blessed? 
62.  And  Jesus  said,  I  am:  and  ye  shall  see  the  Son 
of  man  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  power,  and 
coming  v/ith  the  clouds  of  heaven.  63.  And  the 
high  priest  rent  his  clothes,  and  saith.  What  further 
need  have  we  of  witnesses?  64.  Ye  have  heard  the 
blasphemy:  what  think  ye?  And  they  all  condemned 
him  to  be  worthy  of  death.  65.  And  some  began  to 
spit  on  him,  and  to  cover  his  face,  and  to  buffet 
him,  and  to  say  unto  him,  Prophesy:  and  the  officers 
received  him  with  blows  of  their  hands. 

Mark  15:  i.  And  straightway  in  the  morning  the 
chief  priests  with  the  elders  and  scribes,  and  the 
whole  council,  held  a  consultation,  and  bound  Jesus, 
and  carried  him  aw^ay,  and  delivered  him  up  to 
Pilate.  2.  And  Pilate  asked  him.  Art  thou  the  King 
of  the  Jews?  And  he  answering  saith  unto  him, 
Thou  sayest.  3.  And  the  chief  priests  accused  him 
of  many  things.  4.  And  Pilate  again  asked  him, 
saying,  Answerest  thou  nothing?  behold  how  many 
things  they  accuse  thee  of.  5.  But  Jesus  no  more 
answered  anything;  insomuch  that  Pilate  marvelled. 
6.  Now  at  the  feast  he  used  to  release  unto  them  one 
prisoner,  whom  they  asked  of  him.  7.  And  there  was 
one  called  Barabbas,  lying  bound  with  them  that 
had  made  insurrection,  men  who  in  the  insurrection 
had  committed  murder.  8.  And  the  multitude  went 
up  and  began  to  ask  him  to  do  as  he  was  wont 
to  do  unto  them.  9.  And  Pilate  answered  them, 
saying.  Will  ye  that  I  release  unto  you  the  King 
of  the  Jews?  10.  For  he  perceived  that  for  envy 
the  chief  priests  had  delivered  him  up.     11.  But  the 


JESUS  CONDEMNED  TO  DEATH  155 

chief  priests  stirred  up  the  multitude,  that  he  should 
rather  release  Barabbas  unto  them.  12.  And  Pilate 
again  answered  and  said  unto  them,  What  then 
shall  I  do  unto  him  whom  ye  call  the  King  of  the 
Jews?  13.  And  they  cried  out  again,  Crucify  him. 
14.  And  Pilate  said  unto  them.  Why,  what  evil  hath 
he  done?  But  they  cried  out  exceedingly.  Crucify 
him.  15.  And  Pilate,  wishing  to  content  the  multi- 
tude, released  unto  them  Barabbas,  and  delivered 
Jesus,  when  he  had  scourged  him,  to  be  crucified. 

I.  The  plan  of  the  Priests  and  Scribes  at  once  became 
evident.  It  was  to  try,  condemn,  and  execute  Jesus 
before  word  about  what  was  going  on  could  be  circu- 
lated through  the  city.  The  High  Court  was  already 
assembled,  ready  for  action,  when  the  temple  police 
about  midnight  brought  Jesus  before  it. 

It  became  evident  also  that  the  Court  planned  to 
condemn  Jesus  if  possible  on  some  cheap  disreputable 
charge.  This  would  enable  the  Court  in  some  degree 
to  avoid  the  general  indignation  which  would  naturally 
follow  the  execution  of  a  popular  prophet.  Further- 
more it  would  greatly  help  the  standing  of  the  High 
Priest  and  his  family  with  the  Roman  authorities.  If 
the  Court  should  condemn  Jesus  as  a  messianic  revolu- 
tionist, it  would  be  greatly  to  the  discredit  of  this  family 
that  they  had  allowed  a  revolutionary  movement  to  grow 
to  the  dimensions  attained  by  the  Jesus  movement  with- 
out taking  action  earlier.  The  Roman  government 
would  see  to  it  that  some  more  competent  family  held 
the  high  priesthood. 

The  first  stage  in  the  trial,  therefore  (vs.  55-56),  was 
an    effort    to    convict    Jesus    on    some    one    of    several 


156  ABOUT  JESUS 

charges— perhaps  among  them  the  charge  that  he  had 
been  a  Sabbath  breaker.  The  testimony  on  these  points 
was  not  such  as  to  meet  the  rules  of  evidence  that  pre- 
vailed in  the  court  usage.  There  had  not  been  time  to 
see  to  these  details  beforehand,  especially  as  it  was 
necessary  to  keep  the  proposed  arrest  and  trial  secret. 

In  the  second  stage  (vs.  57-59)  certain  witnesses  were 
found  who  testified  that  Jesus  had  threatened  to  destroy 
the  Temple.  If  this  charge  could  have  been  proved,  the 
indignation  of  all  classes  of  people  would  have  been 
roused  against  Jesus.  Jesus*  assumption  of  authority 
in  the  temple  courts,  his  violent  expulsion  of  the  traders, 
and  his  public  criticism  of  the  Priests  gave  a  little  color 
to  this  charge,  but  the  evidence  was  inadequate. 

In  the  third  stage  (vs.  6o-6ia)  the  High  Priest  tried 
to  get  Jesus  to  say  something  regarding  these  various 
charges  that  could  be  used  as  evidence  against  him. 
Jesus  did  not  propose  to  have  his  case  pulled  down  to 
the  level  of  any  of  these  cheap  charges  and  kept  silent. 
Finally  the  High  Priest,  rather  than  let  the  case  drag 
on  or  utterly  fail,  reluctantly  opened  the  way  for  a 
dignified  charge  to  be  brought  against  Jesus.  He  seemed 
to  have  had  some  reason  for  surmising  that  Jesus  had 
messianic  aspirations.  Perhaps  a  part  of  Judas'  treach- 
ery had  been  the  disclosure  of  Jesus'  messianic  secret. 
The  Priest  directly  asked  Jesus  whether  he  regarded 
himself  as  the  Messiah.  To  this  question  Jesus  gave  an 
unqualified  assent,  taking  pains  only  to  imply  that  it 
was  Messiahship  of  the  Son  of  Man  type,  rather  than 
of  the  military  Son  of  David  type,  that  he  asserted  for 
himself.  He  also  said  that  they  who  were  now  sitting 
in  judgment  upon  him  would  all  one  day  experience  his 


JESUS  CONDEMNED  TO  DEATH  157 

judgment  of  them  (v.  62).  According  to  Matthew's 
Gospel,  Jesus'  form  of  assent  to  the  High  Priest's  in- 
quiry was:  ''Thou  hast  said."  This  perhaps  laid  on  the 
High  Priest  the  responsibility  for  bringing  out  into  the 
open  a  fact  which  Jesus  felt  that  God  had  long  required 
him  to  keep  secret. 

As  soon  as  this  reply  was  made  by  Jesus  the  Court 
found  itself  in  possession  of  evidence  sufficient  to 
sustain  a  charge  of  "blasphemy"  and  immediately  con- 
demned Jesus  to  death.  There  may  be  some  question 
as  to  whether  a  false  Messiah  was  technically  guilty 
of  blasphemy,  but  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  an  asser- 
tion of  Messiahship  was  blasphemous,  when  made  by 
such  a  person  as  the  Priests  and  Scribes  insisted  on  con- 
sidering Jesus  to  be.  It  was  thoroughly  proper  to  spit 
on  such  a  person  (v.  65)  ! 

2.  Early  the  next  morning,  in  the  cool  of  the  day,  when 
the  Roman  Procurator  would  be  ready  to  do  business, 
the  court  officials  asked  him  for  the  necessary  endorse- 
ment of  their  sentence.  They  took  pains  to  present 
their  charge  in  language  that  emphasized  its  political 
aspect:  "King  of  the  Jews."  Nevertheless  at  this  junc- 
ture they  nearly  lost  their  prisoner.  The  Procurator 
had  evidently  had  his  eye  on  the  Jesus  movement  for 
some  time  and  was  convinced  that  it  had  no  political 
significance.  His  spies  had  probably  been  in  the  crowds 
when  Jesus  in  his  "teaching"  made  his  public  attack  on 
the  Priests  at  the  Temple.  The  opposition  of  the  Priests 
seemed  to  him  simply  due  to  their  fear  that  a  popular 
prophet  would  interfere  with  their  shady  schemes  (15: 
10).  Pilate,  too,  was  much  impressed  by  Jesus'  be- 
havior.     Ordinarily    criminals    utilized    their    interview 


158  ABOUT  JESUS 

with  him  to  present  a  passionate  appeal  for  mercy  or 
denial  of  guilt,  but  Jesus  remained  absolutely  silent 
after  admitting  the  truthfulness  of  the  charge  (vs. 
2-5).  For  a  few  moments  Pilate  thought  he  saw  his 
way  otit.  A  local  city  crowd  happened  just  at  this 
point  to  come  to  his  office,  asking  for  the  annual  favor 
of  the  release  of  some  popular  prisoner.  Pilate  instantly 
said :  "Here  is  your  popular  prisoner,  the  'King  of  the 
Jews!'"  The  Priests,  frightened  at  the  possibility  of 
seeing  their  prisoner  finally  slip  through  their  fingers 
after  all  their  success  so  far,  hurried  around  among 
the  crowd  and  influenced  them  to  call  for  a  certain 
well  known  insurrectionist. 

The  Procurator,  who  well  knew  the  excitable  temper 
of  a  Jerusalem  crowd  at  Passover  time,  wished  to  get 
through  the  week  as  peacefully  as  possible.  He  there- 
fore laid  aside  his  scruples,  endorsed  the  death  sentence 
of  the  Court,  and  gave  Jesus  over  to  the  scourgers  in 
the  barracks. 

Questions  : 

What  features  of  Jesus'  character  appear  most  clearly 
in  his  trial? 

Jer.us,  simply  by  virtue  of  being  what  he  was,  brought 
out  the  true  character  of  all  who  were  long  in  his  pres- 
ence. What  out-standing  features  in  the  character  of 
the  leading  men  of  the  Court  appear  in  the  trial  of 
Jesus? 

What  features  in  the  character  of  Pilate  were  brought 
to  light  by  his  interview  with  Jesus?  Did  Pilate  know 
anything  about  himself  in  the  evening  that  he  had  not 
known  in  the  morning? 


JESUS  CONDEMNED  TO  DEATH  159 

A  man  is  himself  judged  zvhen  he  stands  before  a 
great  zvork  of  art,  a  great  personality,  or  a  great  cause 
and  passes  judgment  upon  them. 

"'What   think  ye   of   Christ,'    friend?   when   all's   done 

and  said, 
Like  you  this  Christianity  or  not? 
It  may  be  false,  but  will  you  wish  it  true? 
Has  it  your  vote  to  be  so  if  it  can?" 

— Browning,  "Bishop  Blougram's  Apology." 


STUDY    XXVII 

JESUS  IS  EXECUTED  IN  THE  MIDST  OF 
THE  JEERS  OF  PRIESTS  AND  SCRIBES, 
DIES  SOON  AND  IS  BURIED  BEFORE 

SUNSET 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Matthew  2']  :  33-44  4.  Luke  23 :  44-56 

2.  Matthew  27:  45-61  5.  John  19:  17-27 

3.  Luke  23:  33-43  6.  John  19:  28-42 

7.  II  Corinthians  5  :  14-21 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Mark  15:  21.  And  they  compel  one  passing  by, 
Simon  of  Cyrene,  coming  from  the  country,  the 
father  of  Alexander  and  Rufus,  to  go  with  them, 
that  he  might  bear  his  cross.  22.  And  they  bring 
him  unto  the  place  Golgotha,  which  is,  being  inter- 
preted, The  place  of  a  skull.  23.  And  they  offered 
him  wine  mingled  with  myrrh:  but  he  received  it 
not.  24.  And  they  crucify  him,  and  part  his  gar- 
ments among  them,  casting  lots  upon  them,  what 
each  should  take.  25.  And  it  was  the  third  hour, 
and  they  crucified  him.  26.  And  the  superscription 
of  his  accusation  was  written  over,  the  King  of 
the  Jews.  27.  And  with  him  they  crucify  two  rob- 
bers; one  on  his  right  hand,  and  one  on  his  left. 
29.  And  they  that  passed  by  railed  on  him,  wagging 

160 


JESUS  EXECUTED  AND  BURIED  i6r 

their  heads,  and  saying,  Ha!  thou  that  destroyest 
the  temple,  and  buildest  it  in  three  days,  save  thyself, 
30.  and  come  down  from  the  cross.  31.  In  like  man- 
ner also  the  chief  priests  mocking  him  among  them- 
selves with  the  scribes  said,  He  saved  others;  him- 
self he  cannot  save.  32.  Let  the  Christ,  the  King 
of  Israel,  now  come  down  from  the  cross,  that  we 
may  see  and  believe.  And  they  that  were  crucified 
with  him  reproached  him.  33.  And  when  the  si-th 
hour  was  come,  there  was  darkness  over  the  whole 
land  until  the  ninth  hour.  34.  And  at  the  ninth  hour 
Jesus  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  Eloi,  Eloi,  lama 
sabachthani?  which  is,  being  interpreted,  My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?  35.  And  some 
of  them  that  stood  by,  when  they  heard  it,  said, 
Behold,  he  calleth  Elijah.  36.  And  one  ran,  and 
filling  a  sponge  full  of  vinegar,  put  it  on  a  reed,  and 
gave  him  to  drink,  saying,  Let  be;  let  us  see  whether 
Elijah  Cometh  to  take  him  down.  37.  And  Jesus 
uttered  a  loud  voice,  and  gave  up  the  ghost.  38. 
And  the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain  from 
the  top  to  the  bottom.  39.  And  when  the  centurion, 
which  stood  by  over  against  him,  saw  that  he  so 
gave  up  the  ghost,  he  said,  Truly  this  man  was  the 
Son  of  God. 

42.  And  v/hen  even  was  now  com.e,  because  it  was 
the  Preparation,  that  is,  the  day  before  the  sabbath, 
43.  there  cam.e  Joseph  of  Arimathaea,  a  councillor 
of  honourable  estate,  who  also  himself  was  looking 
for  the  kingdom  of  God;  and  he  boldly  went  in  unto 
Pilate,  and  asked  for  the  body  of  Jesus.  44.  And 
Pilate  marvelled  if  he  were  already  dead:  and  call-, 
ing  unto  him  the  centurion,  he  asked  him  whether 
he  had  been  any  while  dead.  45.  And  when  he 
learned  it  of  the  centurion,  he  granted  the  corpse 
to  Joseph. 


i62  ABOUT  JESUS 

I. -After  Jesus  had  been  scourged  and  the  soldiers  in 
the  barracks  had  made  sport  of  the  royal  aspirations 
for  which  he  was  to  be  crucified,  he  was  conducted  to 
execution  by  a  squad  of  four  soldiers.  Two  other  con- 
demned men  sentenced  to  die  on  this  day  were  executed 
at  the  same  time  and  place.  Perhaps  the  early  Chris- 
tians saw  a  certain  fitness  in  the  fact  that  Jesus,  who 
liad  always  associated  with  "sinners"  in  his  life-time, 
should  also  die  with  a  robber  on  either  side.  A  man 
from  Cyrene  in  North  Africa  for  some  reason  was 
-compelled  by  the  soldiers  to  carry  Jesus'  cross.  Two 
of  this  man's  sons  afterward  became  Christians  and 
later,  in  the  region  where  Mark's  Gospel  was  com- 
piled, were  distinguished  because  their  father  had  done 
this  for  Jesus  in  his  dark  hour. 

Philanthropic  women  in  Jerusalem  regularly  prepared 
drugged  wine  to  deaden  the  pain  of  the  crucified.  Jesus 
refused  this  ministration.  He  did  not  know  what  God 
might  wish  to  do  for  or  through  him  in  the  great  hour 
which  had  come  to  him  by  God's  appointment.  He 
wished,  therefore,  to  be  in  full  possession  of  his  senses. 
Friends  might  venture  near  for  last  words  or  some 
•opportunity  to  comfort  those  on  either  side  might 
•develop. 

The  cross  was  set  up  near  a  well-frequented  highway 
and  those  who  passed  by  seemed  to  think  that  Jesus 
was  being  crucified  because  he  threatened  to  attack  the 
Temple  (v.  29),  although  this  was  not  the  crime  specified 
on  the  tablet  above  his  head.  Perhaps  the  Priests  took 
pains  to  circulate  the  information  that  Jesus  had  planned 
to  do  this.  By  smirching  his  reputation  in  this  way, 
ihey  would  protect  themselves  against  popular  criticism 


JESUS  EXECUTED  AND  BURIED  163 

of  their  action.  Both  Priests  and  Scribes  (v.  31)  were 
walking  about  near  the  cross  gloating  over  their  tri- 
umph, and  saying  things  to  each  other  for  Jesus  to  hear. 
He  had  pretended  to  be  the  messianic  Dtliverer  of 
the  nation,  but  he  could  not  even  deliver  himself  1  Even 
the  two  robbers  on  either  hand  turned  their  heads  and 
added  their  bitter  jeers.  According  to  Luke's  Gospel, 
one  of  them  changed  nis  attitude  before  the  day  was 
over  (third  supplem.entary  reading).  As  the  hours 
wore  on  he  saw  that  Jesus  hurled  no  curses  upon  those 
who  ridiculed  him  and  spoke  no  bitter  word.  He  was 
profoundly  impressed  by  such  conduct.  He  cannot  have 
thought  that  a  person  in  such  a  situation  could  possibly 
be  the  Messiah.  Even  Jesus'  own  disciples  gave  up  that 
idea.  Jesus  must  have  seemed  to  him  a  man  of  fine 
spirit  who  w^as  the  victim  of  a  messianic  delusion. 
Toward  the  end  of  the  day  with  a  half  humorous  friend- 
hness  he  turned  his  head  and  said,  "Jesus,  when  you 
come  in  your  kingdom,  remember  me !"  Jesus,  who  saw 
in  this  expression  of  good-wdll  the  germ  of  faith,  told 
him  that  they  would  be  walking  together  in  the  Beauti- 
ful Garden  before  sunset. 

An  awesome  shadow  lay  over  the  whole  region  from 
noon  until  three  o'clock.  At  that  time  Jesus  in  a  very 
strong  voice,  unweakened  by  suffering,  uttered  the  first 
sentence  of  the  twenty-second  Psalm.  It  is  a  Psalm 
which  In  its  first  part  describes  Intense  suffering,  in 
language  very  applicable  to  a  man  being  crucified,^  but 
which  in  Its  last  part  describes  the  triumph  of  right- 
eousness over  all  the  earth  In  "Jehovah's  Kingdom." 
Jesus  may  have  lived  in  this  Psalm  for  weeks,  and  may 
have  now  been  comforting  himself  with  Its  great  ideas. 


i64  ABOUT  JESUS 

Some  one  standing  near  the  cross  thought,  or  pre- 
tended to  think,  that  Jesus  was  calling  for  Ehjah  and 
asked  perrnission  to  saturate  a  sponge  with  sour  wine 
from  the  jar  placed  near  for  the  use  of  the  soldiers 
and  put  it  into  Jesus'  mouth,  to  encourage  him  to  keep 
on    calling    for    Elijah.      Perhaps    Elijah   would    come! 

^Just  at  this  time  Jesus  uttered  a  great  cry,  either  of 
victory  or  distress,  and  suddenly  died.  The  Roman 
centurion  noting  all  the  circumstances  of  his  death— 
the  awesome  shadow,  the  great  shout— said  that  Jesus 
surely  was  "a  son  of  god"  or  "a  son  of  a  god."  Per- 
liaps  he  had  heard  the  word  used  in  its  Jewish  sense 
as  a  messianic  title,  but  to  his  Roman  mind  it  probably 
designated  a  heroic  person  descended  from  the  gods. 

2.  One  of  the  members  of  the  Great  Court  who  had 
known  of  the  action  of  the  Court  but  had  not  taken 
part  in  it,  went  at  once  to  the  Roman  Procurator  and 
asked  permission  to  bury  the  body  of  Jesus.  The 
Procurator  could  not  believe  that  Jesus  had  died  so 
soon,  for  the  crucified  sometimes  lived  for  days.  He 
suspected  some  trick  on  the  part  of  Jesus'  friends  to 
rescue  him  from  death,  but  when  the  officer  superin- 
tending the  execution  assured  him  that  Jesus  was  dead, 
he  granted  the  request. 

Questions  : 

In  Study  XXV  Paul's  great  statement  about  the 
death  of  Jesus  was  quoted:  "God  was  in  Christ  recon- 
ciling the  world  unto  himself."  The  evening  before 
his  death  Jesus  had  said,  according  to  John's  Gospel 
(14:  9),  that  whoever  had  seen  him  had  seen  the 
Pather.    This  would  have  been  equally  true  the  next  day 


JESUS  EXECUTED  AND  BURIED  165 

as  Jesus  hung  on  the  cross.  What  may  men  learn  about 
the  heart  of  the  Heavenly  Father  by  studying  the  words 
and  conduct  of  Jesus  on  the  cross?  That  is,  would 
our  idea  of  God  lack  anything  that  it  now  includes,  if 
we  did  not  know  these  details  about  the  suffering  death 
of  Jesus? 

Is  there  anything  about  the  death  of  Jesus  that  tends 
to  make  men  better? 

What  does  the  narrative  represent  to  have  been  the 
actual  effect  of  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  upon  the  various 
individuals  who  appear  about  the  cross? 

"When  I  survey  the  wondrous  cross 
On  which  the  Prince  of  Glory  died, 
My  richest  gain  I  count  but  loss. 
And  pour  contempt  on  all  my  pride. 

Were  the  whole  realm  of  nature  mine, 
That  were  a  present  far  too  small ; 

Love  so  amazing,  so  divine. 

Demands  my  soul,  my  life,  my  all." 

— Isaac  Watts. 


STUDY    XXVIII 

AFTER  DEATH  JESUS  APPEARS  TO  HIS 
DISCIPLES  AND  ASSURES  THEM 
THAT  GOD  HAS  GIVEN  HIM  POWER 
TO  CONTINUE  WORKING  WITH  THEM 
FOR  THE  COMING  OF  THE  NEW  AGE 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  I  Corinthians  15:  i-ii  4.  Luke  24:  13-35 

2.  Matthew  27  :  62 — 28  :  15        5.  Luke  24  :  36-50 

3.  Luke  24:  1-12  6.  John  20:  1-18 

7.  John  20 :  19-29 

Passages  for  Study  : 

Mark  15:  47.  And  Mary  Magdalene  and  Mary  the 
mother  of  Joses  beheld  where  he  was  laid.  16: 
I.  And  when  the  sabbath  was  past,  Mary  Magdalene, 
and  Mary  the  mother  of  James,  and  Salome,  bought 
spices,  that  they  might  come  and  anoint  him.  2. 
And  very  early  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  they 
come  to  the  tomb  when  the  sun  was  risen.  3.  And 
they  were  saying  among  themselves.  Who  shall 
roll  us  away  the  stone  from  the  door  of  the  tomb? 

4.  and  looking  up,  they  see  that  the  stone  is  rolled 
back:  for  it  was  exceeding  great.  5.  And  entering 
into  the  tomb,  they  saw  a  young  man  sitting  on  the 
right  side,  arrayed  in  a  white  robe;  and  they  were 
amazed.  6.  And  he  saith  unto  them,  Be  not  amazed: 
ye  seek  Jesus,  the  Nazarene,  which  hath  been  cruci- 

166 


JESUS  APPEARS  TO  DISCIPLES  167 

fied:  he  is  risen;  he  is  not  here:  behold,  the  place 
where  they  laid  him!  7.  But  go, .tell  his  disciples 
and  Peter,  He  goeth  before  you  into  Galilee:  there 
shall  ye  see  him,  as  he  said  unto  you.  8.  And  they 
went  out,  and  fled  from  the  tomb;  for  trembling 
and  astonishment  had  come  upon  them:  and  they 
said  nothing  to  any  one;  for  they  were  afraid. 

Matt.  28:  16.  But  the  eleven  disciples  went  into 
Galilee,  unto  the  mountain  where  Jesus  had  ap- 
pointed them.  17.  And  when  they  saw  him,  they 
worshipped  him;  but  some  doubted.  18.  And  Jesus 
came  to  them  and  spake  unto  them,  saying.  All 
authority  hath  been  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on 
earth.  19.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of 
all  the  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit: 
20.  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever 
I  commanded  you:  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  always, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world. 

Acts  i:  4.  And  being  assembled  together  with 
them,  he  charged  them  not  to  depart  from  Jeru- 
salem, but  to  wait  for  the  promise  of  the  Father, 
which,  said  he,  ye  heard  from  me:  5.  for  John  in- 
deed baptized  with  water;  but  ye  shall  be  baptized 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  not  many  days  hence. 

Acts  2:  32.  This  Jesus  did  God  raise  up,  whereof 
we  all  are  witnesses.  33.  Being  therefore  by  the 
right  hand  of  God  exalted,  and  having  received  of 
the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  hath 
poured  forth  this,  which  ye  see  and  hear. 

I.  All  through  the  long  day  of  the  crucifixion  a  little 
group  of  distressed  women,  far  enough  from  the  cross 
to  avoid  the  insults  of  the  soldiers  and  other  spectators, 
were  watching  the  scene.  They  had  doubtless  hoped 
that  the  sight  of  them  at  a  distance  would  be  a  comfort 


i68  ABOUT  JESUS 

to  Jesus.  They  saw  where  his  dead  body  was  laid  in 
the  late  afternoon.  The  Sabbath  began  at  sunset,  so 
there  was  no  opportunity  that  evening  to  buy  the  spices 
ordinarily  used  in  preparing  bodies  for  burial.  When 
the  Sabbath  ended  at  sunset  twenty-four  hours  later, 
they  bought  spices  and  hoped  to  find  some  way  of  using 
them  early  the  next  morning.  When  they  reached  the 
vault  at  sunrise  they  found  the  large  wheel-shaped  stone, 
that  had  been,  as  usual  placed  across  the  low  doorway 
to  keep  out  dogs  or  human  intruders,  rolled  away. 
When  they  entered,  they  found  a  young  man  clothed  in 
white  who  told  them  that  Jesus  had  risen  from  the 
dead  and  would  meet  his  disciples  in  Galilee,  at  some 
place  which  it  is  assumed  they  would  think  of  as  a 
natural  place  of  resort  (16:7).  The  women  regarded 
the  young  man  who  spoke  with  such  authority  as  a 
supernatural  being  and  hurried  away  frightened  from 
the  place.  According  to  the  account  which  appears  in 
Matthew's  Gospel,  the  eleven  disciples  met  Jesus  at 
some  familiar  place  in  the  hill  country  of  Galilee — 
perhaps  on  "the  mountain"  where  the  Twelve  had  been 
selected  (Mark  3:  13)  and  where  various  other  import- 
ant meetings  had  probably  been  held. 

2.  Various  interesting  questions  naturally  arise  re- 
garding this  period  in  the  history  of  the  disciples.  The 
outstanding  fact  is  that  in  some  way  the  personality  of 
Jesus  made  its  presence  unmistakably  evident  to  the 
disciples  and  produced  in  them  certain  convictions 
which  transformed  their  despair  into  an  abiding  enthusi- 
asm. This  enthusiasm  lasted  not  only  throughout  their 
lives  but  has  in  various  forms  characterized  the  experi- 
ence of  Christian  men  ever  since. 


JESUS  APPEARS  TO  DISCIPLES  169 

The  source  of  their  enthusiasm  was  not  the  fact  that 
Jesus  was  still  in  existence.  The  section  of  the  nation  to 
which  they  belonged  had  no  serious  doubt  about  con- 
tinued existence  after  death.  If  the}'^  still  held  Jesus  to 
have  been  a  great  prophet,  they  would  have  thought  of 
him  as  existing  in  the  realms  of  the  dead  with  the  great 
prophets  of  the  past.  If  they  were  tempted  to  believe 
with  the  Scribes  that  Jesus  had  really  been  in  league 
with  Satan  and  that  his  messianic  pretension  had  there- 
fore proved  him  to  be  an  Anti-Christ,  they  would  have 
thought  of  him  as  having  returned  to  the  realm  of 
Satan.  The  source  of  their  enthusiasm  was  the  fact  that 
Jesus  appeared  to  them,  filled  with  all  his  former  en- 
thusiastic conviction  that  he  was  God's  Messiah  fully 
empowered  to  move  forward  as  leader  in  the  Great 
Enterprise.  He  assured  them  that  all  power  had  been 
given  to  him  and^that  he  would  continue  to  work  with 
and  through  them  until  the  Old  Age  should  come  to  an 
end  and  the  civilization  of  the  New  Age  be  established. 
(Matthew  28:  18,  20.)  In  confirmation  of  this  expecta- 
tion he  promised  them  that  they  would  soon  receive 
certain  experience  of  the  touch  of  God  upon  their 
spirits.  This  would  be  Jesus'  signal  to  them  that  he 
was  with  God  in  the  unseen  world,  that  his  eyes  were 
always  upon  them,  and  that  he  was  continuing  to  work 
powerfully  with  them  in  preparing  the  lives  of  men 
for  the  New  Age  (Acts  2  :  33). 

3.  It  has  been  the  experience  of  men  generation  after 
generation  that  as  they  let  their  affections  follow  the 
personality  of  Jesus  out  into  the  unseen  world  they 
find  a  profound  spiritual  inspiration  coming  back  to 
them,  which  redeems  them  from  bondage  to  the  selfish 


I70  ABOUT  JESUS 

life  and  more  and  more  fastens  upon  them  the  disposi- 
tion and  purpose  that  are  seen  to  have  characterized 
the  life  of  Jesus  on  earth.  This  redeeming  spiritual 
inspiration  which  God  brings  into  the  lives  of  men 
through  the  personality  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Living  Lord, 
naturally  appears  in  different  forms  according  to  per- 
sonal temperament  and  current  habits  of  thought.  Its 
unvarying,  central  feature  is  love,  the  very  love  of  God. 
"The  love  of  God  has  been  poured  out  in  our  hearts 
through  the  Holy  Spirit"  (the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Romans  5:5).  Different  phases  of  the  loving  heart 
appear  in  another  statement  made  by  Paul :  "The  fruit 
of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  longsuffering,  kindness, 
goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  self-control"  (Gal- 
atians  5 :  22-23). 

Questions  : 

Judging  from  the  knowledge  we  have  of  Jesus'  life 
on  earth,  and  assuming  the  continued  existence  of  his 
immortal  spirit,  what  would  naturally  be  his  dominant 
desires  today? 

Where  should  we  naturally  look  for  evidence  that 
Jesus  is  still  concerned  about  the  life  of  an  individual 
man?     Or  about  the  development  of  world  civilization? 

What  are  any  of  the  conditions  that  one  might  natu- 
rally expect  to  have  to  meet,  in  order  to  have  any  expe- 
rience of  the  power  of  Jesus? 

"Where  Is  your  Lord? 
Seated  on  God's  right  hand, 
Captain  of  Heaven's  host. 
Directing  campaigns  grand 
On  some  removed  coast 


JESUS  APPEARS  TO  DISCIPLES  171 

Of  Eternity's  vast  sea — 
So  far  above 
Man's  highest  love 
He   cannot   reached  be? 

"Where  is  your  Lord? 
At  God's  right  hand  in  sooth : 
Where'er  his  servants  brave 
Are  fighting  for  the  truth, 
That  all  the  world  may  have 
His  larger  life.    'Tis  hyre 

The  Christ  is  'found : 

His  accents  sound 
Within  your  soul — so  near  ! 

"Where  is  your  Lord? 
Within  the   daily  round 
Of  duty.     God's  command 
For  you  just  now's  the  sound 
Of  the  Master's  voice.     Stand 
To  your  hard  task!     Be  true 

To  your  ideal ! 

God's  will's  the  real — 
Your  Lord  dwells  there  for  you." 

— Doremus  Scudder. 


STUDY    XXIX 

THE  VICTORIOUS  CAMPAIGN  OF 
TESTIMONY 


Si 

JPPLEMENTARY  READINGS  : 

I. 

Acts  2:   14-36                     '4. 

Acts  4: 

1-22 

2. 

Acts  2 :  37-47                        5. 

Acts  4: 

23-35 

3. 

Acts  3:  1-26                         6. 

Acts  8 : 

26-40 

7.  Acts  26: 

2-29 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Acts  i:  I.  The  former  treatise  I  made,  O  Theo- 
phiius,  concerning  all  that  Jesus  began  both  to  do 
and  to  teach,  2.  until  the  day  in  which  he  was  re- 
ceived up,  after  that  he  had  given  commandment 
through  the  Holy  Ghost  unto  the  apostles  whom 
he  had  chosen:  3.  to  whom  he  also  shewed  himself 
alive  after  his  passion  by  many  proofs,  appearing 
unto  them  by  the  space  of  forty  days,  and  speaking 
the  things  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God:  4.  and, 
being  assembled  together  with  them,  he  charged 
them  not  to  depart  from  Jerusalem,  but  to  wait  for 
the  promise  of  the  Father,  which,  said  he,  ye  heard 
from  me:  5.  for  John  indeed  baptized  with  water; 
but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  not 
many  days  hence.  6.  They  therefore,  when  they  were 
come  together,  asked  him,  saying,  Lord,  dost  thou  at 
this  time  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel?  7.  And  he 
said  unto  them.  It  is  not  for  you  to  know  times  or 

172 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  TESTIMONY  173 

seasons,  which  the  Father  hath  set  within  his  own 
authority.  8.  But  ye  shall  receive  power,  when  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you:  and  ye  shall  be  my 
witnesses  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judaea  and 
Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth. 

I.  Jesus'  vision  of  life  in  the  New  Age  as  we  have 
seen  it  in  previous  Studies  has  had  three  great  features. 
It  is  a  world  civilization  in  which  every  man  looks  up 
to  God  as  his  Father,  with  a  growing  awareness  of  a 
vast  unseen  world  of  which  he  is  a  part ;  in  which  each 
man  in  the  midst  of  the  day's  work  looks  out  upon 
all  other  men  with  a  kindling  desire  to  work  with 
them  for  the  common  good  in  all  possible  ways  and 
at  any  cost ;  in  which  each  man  in  the  midst  of  the  day's 
work  looks  forward  with  a  growing  expectation  of 
immortality.  Jesus  felt  himself  thrust  forward  by 
God  to  lead  the  human  race  into  this  kind  of  life. 
Responsibility  under  God  for  world  leadership  was  the 
central  idea  of  Jewish  Messiahship,  even  in  its  coarser 
forms.  That  which  was  narrowly  national  and  transient 
in  the  common  Jewish  idea  of  Messiahship  soon  dropped 
away.  The  whole  idea  of  Messiahship  came  in  time 
to  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of  temporary  form  assumed 
by  an  everlasting  fact.  "Christ"  ceased  in  large  meas- 
ure to  be  used  as  a  title,  "The  Christ,"  and  became  a 
part  of  the  personal  name  "Jesus  Christ"  or  "Christ 
Jesus."  The  Jewish  title  "Son  of  God,"  which  had 
originally  been  thought  a  fit  title  for  any  good  king, 
gained  a  new  meaning,  demanded  b}^  the  new  experi- 
ence of  God  which  men  found  themselves  having  in 
connection  with  allegiance  to  the  immortal  Spirit  of 
Jesus.     Into  whatever  sphere  of  thought  the  wonderful 


174  ABOUT  JESUS 

Christian  experience  made  its  way,  it  instinctively  took 
the  highest  titles  that  it  found  and  applied  them  to 
Jesus.  No  lesser  titles  could  do  justice  to  the  wonder- 
ful experience.  "Lord"  and  "Saviour,"  which  were  titles 
that  had  rich  religious  meaning  in  both  Jewish  and 
Greco-Roman  usage,  naturally  became  widespread  desig- 
nations of  Jesus — "Our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

This  Christian  experience  has  persisted  through  the 
Christian  centuries.  Generation  after  generation  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Living  Lord  and  Saviour,  has  stood  out 
as  the  immortal  personality  through  whom  God  is 
leading  the  race  into  the  life  it  ought  to  live. 

The  purpose  of  Jesus  seems  to  have  been  to  gather 
men  into  a  brotherhood  about  himself  as  Leader  and 
to  bind  this  brotherhood  forever  to  God.  So  far  as 
individual  lives  are  concerned,  he  wished  to  share  with 
them  through  the  contagion  of  spiritual  fellowship  his 
own  faith  in  the  Heavenly  Father,  his  own  sense  of 
human  brotherhood,  his  own  confidence  in  immortality. 

2.  Jesus'  program  for  the  accomplishment  of  his 
great  mission  was  a  campaign  of  testimony  on  the 
part  of  his  disciples.  He  gave  to  the  first  disciples  a 
sense  of  being  his  "witnesses"  (i:  8),  that  is,  persons 
able  to  testify  to  something  on  the  basis  of  their  per- 
sonal experience  with  him.  Such  testimony  he  felt 
sure  would  bring  the  great  result  to  pass.  After  he 
passed  into  the  unseen  world  it  involved,  of  course, 
a  report  of  research  in  the  sphere  of  unseen  reality. 
Men  on  the  basis  of  certain  historical  evidence  let  their 
affections  and  desires  follow  the  personality  of  Jesus 
out  into  the  unseen  world  and  found  responsive  reality 
there.     This  gave  them  material  for  their  "testimony." 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  TESTIMONY         175 

The  Christian  witness  is  able  to  say :  "I  have  determined 
at  any  cost  to  make  Jesus'  threefold  ideal  of  life  my 
own  and  have  reached  out  to  the  immortal  Spirit  of 
Jesus,  the  Living  Lord,  for  help  in  realizing  it."  The 
result  has  been  the  beginnin"^  of  a  new  success.  To 
some  the  beginning  comes  as  a  distinct  experience. 
Others  find  themselves  living  the  life,  but  do  not  know 
how  and  when  it  began. 

Jesus'  point  is  that  a  multitude  of  men  able  honestly 
and  earnestly  to  bear  this  testimony,  sometimes  in 
words,  always  in  action,  will  transform  the  civilization 
of  the  world,  all  its  laws  and  social  institutions.  When 
one  man  in  the  midst  of  this  great  and  growing  Chris- 
tian experience  stands  on  the  threshold  of  another  man's 
life,  he  will  find  himself  possessed  of  "power"  to  be 
or  do  or  say  something  there  that  will  successfully 
summon  the  other  man  to  come  forth  and  join  him  in 
God's  Great  Enterprise. 

Such  an  approach  to  another  man  does  not  involve 
preaching  at  him,  or  handing  something  down  to  him 
from  a  point  of  personal  superiority.  It  is  simply  com- 
ing to  him  on  the  level  to  share  with  him  if  possible 
a  great  value.  This  readiness  to  share  every  value 
with  others  is  the  very  genius  of  Christianity.  Any 
one  who  will  not  be  true  to  the  demands  of  this  spirit 
cannot  permanently  hold  Christian  values.  "From  him 
shall  be  taken  away  even  that  which  he  seemeth  to 
have." 

Questions  : 

How  much  Christian  experience  should  a  man  have 
before  he  makes  some  effort  to  share  it  with  another? 


176  ABOUT  JESUS 

Should  a  man  feel  any  interest  in  another  man's  reli- 
gion?    If  so,  why? 

If  he  feels  such  interest  to  be  justifiable,  should  he 
ever  endeavor  to  influence  the  religious  experience  of 
another?     If  so,  how  should  he  proceed  to  do  it? 

"Needs  must  there  be  one  way,  our  chief 
Best  way  of  worship :  let  me  strive 
To  find  it,  and  when  found,  contrive 
My  fellows  also  take  their  share ! 
This  constitutes  my  earthly  care : 
God's  is  above  it  and  distinct. 
For  I,  a  man,  with  men  am  linked, 
And  not  a  brute  with  brutes ;  no  gain 
That  I  experience,  must  remain 
Unshared." 

— Browning,  "Christmas  Eve." 


STUDY    XXX 

WHAT  WILL  YOU  DO  ABOUT  JESUS? 

Supplementary  Readings  : 

1.  Acts  2:  36-47  4.  Acts  9:   1-22 

2.  Acts  8 :  4-24  5.  Acts  10 :  34-48 

3.  Acts  8:  25-40  6.  Acts  16:  16-34 

7.  Acts  17:  16-34 

Passage  for  Study  : 

Romans  10:  i.  Brethren,  my  heart's  desire  and  my 
supplication  to  God  is  for  them,  that  they  may  be 
saved.  2.  For  I  bear  them  witness  that  they  have 
a  zeal  for  God,  but  not  according  to  knowledge. 
3.  For  being  ignorant  of  God's  righteousness,  and 
seeking  to  establish  their  own,  they  did  not  subject 
themselves  to  the  righteousness  of  God.  4.  For 
Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  unto  righteousness  to 
every  one  that  believeth.  5.  For  Moses  writeth  that 
the  man  that  doeth  the  righteousness  which  is  of 
the  law  shall  live  thereby.  6.  But  the  righteousness 
which  is  of  faith  saith  thus.  Say  not  in  thy  heart, 
Who  shall  ascend  into  heaven?  (that  is,  to  bring 
Christ  down:)  7.  or.  Who  shall  descend  into  the 
abyss?  (that  is,  to  bring  Christ  up  from  the  dead.) 
8.  But  what  saith  it?  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  in 
thy  mouth,  and  in  thy  heart:  that  is,  the  word  of 
faith,  which  we  preach:  9.  because  if  thou  shalt  con- 
fess with  thy  mouth  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  shalt  be- 

177 


178  ABOUT  JESUS 

lieve  in  thy  heart  that  God  raised  him  from  the  dead, 
thou  shalt  be  saved:  lo.  for  with  the  heart  man  be- 
lieveth  unto  righteousness;  and  with  the  mouth  con- 
fession is  made  unto  salvation. 

The  message  of  Christianity  has  always  been :  "Be- 
lieve on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved." 

To  be  ''saved"  is  to  be  saved  from  a  daily  life  of 
increasing  selfishness  and  its  consequent  moral  ruin 
to  a  daily  life  of  growing  unselfishness  and  its  conse- 
quent moral  health. 

The  unselfish  life  to  which  we  are  saved  is  that 
which  takes  due  account  of  others.  It  yields  to  God 
the  loving  obedience  due  to  a  Heavenly  Father,  and 
to  men  the  invincible  friendliness  due  to  brothers. 

We  are  said  to  be  "saved"  to  the  life  of  growing 
unselfishness  by  "believing  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
To  believe  in  a  person  is  to  accept  him  on  good  evi- 
dence for  what  he  is  represented  to  be  and  to  treat 
him   accordingly. 

Jesus  Christ  appears  as  the  revelation  of  the 
Heavenly  Father,  in  terms  of  human  life,  death,  and 
immortal  spiritual  presence.  "No  man  hath  seen  God 
at  any  time ;  the  only  begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared  him"  (John 
i:  i8).  To  believe  in  such  a  person  is  to  treat  him 
as  he  ought  to  be  treated. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  treat  such  a  person,  and 
that  is  to  yield  to  him  the  loving,  loyal  devotion  of 
our  lives. 

This  necessarily  brings  us  into  right  relation  to  the 
Heavenly    Father,     for    he    is    the    revelation    of    the 


WHAT  WILL  YOU  DO  ABOUT  JESUS?    179 

Heavenly  Father,  and  into  right  relation  to  all  man- 
kind, for  he  is  the  Great  Brother  of  all  men. 

Or  it  may  be  put  in  another  way :  Jesus  has  appeared 
as  the  divine  Lord  and  Leader  of  mankind.  To  be- 
lieve in  a  leader  is  to  adopt  the  leader's  ideals  as  our 
own,  at  any  cost,  and  then  to  get  from  the  leader 
himself  all  the  inspiration  possible  for  the  realization 
of  the  ideals. 

We. get  from  Jesus  the  great  threefold  ideal  that  we 
have  repeatedly  found  in  his  teachings,  namely,  a  life 
that  in  the  midst  of  the  day's  work  looks  prayerfully 
up  to  God  as  a  Heavenly  Father;  a  life  that  in  the 
midst  of  the  day's  work  reaches  out  to  effort  with  all 
men  for  the  common  good,  at  any  cost ;  and  a  life  that 
looks  down  the  long  future  with  a  kindling  hope  of 
immortality. 

Then  we  reach  out  in  a  great  spiritual  venture  to 
get  from  Jesus  Christ,  the  living  Lord,  the  inspiration 
we  need  for  the  enlarging  realization  of  this  great 
threefold  ideal  in  our  own  lives.  It  is  the  sense  of 
the  personal  friendship  of  the  living,  Christ  that  has 
carried  thousands  of  men  victoriously  through  fierce 
temptation,  that  has  kept  them  true  and  hopeful  under 
the  steady  strain  of  heavy  responsibility  year  after 
year,  and  that  has  been  their  unfailing  stay  in  the  hour 
of  death. 

The  best  testimony  that  the  world  has  known  during 
the  Christian  centuries  has  been  the  testimony  of 
experience  with  the  redeeming  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  has  come  from  men  and  women  of  all  sorts  and 
kinds. 

The   experience   has   had   different   modes   of   begin- 


i8o  ABOUT  JESUS 

ning — sometimes  distinct  and  triumphant,  sometimes 
obscure  and  uncertain.  But  it  has  been  a  deepening 
experience  that  means  more  and  more  to  the  end. 

He  who  in  this  way  beheves  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  one  who  has  ''true  reHgion"  in  the  Jesus  sense. 
His  hfe  in  its  relation  to  God  and  man  is  a  Hfe  of 
growing  sympathy,   sincerity,  and  peace. 

Questions:  Are  you  a  Christian?  If  so,  why?  If 
not,  why  not? 

"THE  WORD  IS  NIGH  THEE,  IN  THY  MOUTH, 
AND  IN  THY  HEART:  THAT  IS,  THE  WORD 
OF  FAITH,  WHICH  WE  PREACH:  THAT  IF 
THOU  SHALT  CONFESS  WITH  THY  MOUTH 
JESUS  AS  LORD,  AND  BELIEVE  IN  THY  HEART 
THAT  GOD  RAISED  HIM  FROM  THE  DEAD, 
THOU  SHALT  BE  SAVED." 


Date  Due 


Ap  2 1  '41 


BS2420.B748 

Thirty  studies  about  Jesus 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00013  0007 


